Colorado’s unemployment rate has been rising slightly in the past few months, but the state’s top economist has cautioned against reading too far into marginal monthly increases.

The state also saw the addition of 1,500 nonfarm payroll jobs in September, but the number of unemployed people rose by 3,600.

The latest jobs report from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment showed the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate inched up from 3.1% in August to 3.2% in September. In July, the state unemployment rate was 2.9%. The state saw a several-month run of 2.8% earlier this year.

A similar trend unfolded last year when unemployment rates ticked up during the fall, the state’s economist Ryan Gedney told reporters on Friday — also emphasizing that the routine annual revisions of 2022 monthly estimates later tamped those increases down.

“I do have my beliefs or hunches that when this is all revised it will show pretty boring, flat, no change over the year unemployment rate,” he said.

The report showed the number of unemployed people grew by 3,600 to a total of 103,500. The national unemployment rate stayed flat at 3.8% last month. Since April 2022, the national jobless rate has ranged between 3.4% and 3.8%, which is “near historic lows,” Gedney said.

“The rise of Colorado’s rate was due to a decline of total employment coupled with a decrease in the labor force,” he said. “Despite the recent uptick in Colorado’s unemployment rate over the past few months, the state’s rate has remained between a relatively narrow band of 2.6% and 3.2% since April 2022.”

That’s a familiar story to pre-pandemic times, he said. The state’s unemployment rate ranged between 2.5% and 3.2% in the two years preceding the pandemic.

In September, Colorado was tied with Mississippi and Tennessee for the 26th lowest unemployment rate in the U.S. Maryland had the lowest rate at 1.6% and Nevada had the highest rate at 5.4%.

Colorado’s labor force decreased by 2,500 down to 3,252,600. The share of Coloradans participating in the labor force fell slightly from 68.7% in August to 68.6% in September. At a national level, the labor force participation was flat at 62.8% in September.

The number of Coloradans who are employed fell by 6,100 last month to 3,149,100. That represents 66.4% of the state’s population who are 16 and older.

“Despite the recent lack in upward movement in Colorado’s participation rate and employment-participation ratio, both metrics still rank Top 5 nationally as of September,” he said.

Among Colorado’s metro areas, Pueblo had the highest unemployment rate at 4.3% while Fort Collins and Boulder had the lowest rates of 2.9% and 3% respectively. Denver, Colorado Springs, Grand Junction and Greeley had rates between 3.3% and 3.4%. The state recommends comparing all of those rates to the not-seasonally adjusted rate of 3.2%.

A survey of employers found there were 1,500 new nonfarm payroll jobs last month, bringing the number to 2,917,800. The number of jobs in the private sector fell by 600. The government added 2,100 jobs, likely driven by the education field.

There were mixed results in the private industry last month. Professional business services showed significant gains, adding 2,300 jobs in September, while the other services sector showed a significant month-over loss of 2,600 jobs. Gedney said there is a strong chance the other services job loss totals will prove less severe when estimates are revised next month.

“The past year has produced some notably volatile monthly gains for Colorado’s private sector. Since September of last year, decreases in payroll levels have been estimated for five months. Three months have seen relatively weak gains ranging from just 100 to 1,500 jobs added, while the other five months have seen a fairly strong number of jobs added,” he said.

In the strong months, job gains ranged from 4,800 to 6,500. In the period, the state averaged adding 1,600 private jobs a month, although Gedney expects that number will be “greatly improved when estimates are revised in our annual benchmarking process early next year.”

Looking a year back, nonfarm payroll jobs have increased by 40,000. The private sector has grown by 21,000 jobs, and the government by 19,000.

Leisure and hospitality are showing year-over-year gains of roughly 22,300 jobs. Professional and business services showed a gain of 9,000 jobs from 2022, while educational and health services climbed by 5,900.

Sectors that showed the largest losses since September 2022 were financial activities with a decrease of 8,100 payroll jobs; trade, transportation and utilities with 4,800 fewer jobs; construction with a decrease of 4,200, information with a decrease of 1,800; and other services, which saw a decline of 600 payroll jobs.

Colorado’s job growth rate in the past year trails the national rate, at 1.4% and 2.1% respectively.

The average workweek for Colorado employees on private nonfarm payrolls shrunk over the past year, down from 33.5 hours to 33.4 hours. Average hourly earnings grew from $34.44 to $35.75. The state’s hourly earnings are $1.87 higher than the national average of $33.88.