Colorado added 11,800 jobs in April even as the state’s unemployment rate remained unchanged, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment reported Friday.

Private sector payroll jobs increased by 12,000 while government jobs decreased by 200, the department said. The jobless rate remained at 3.9%, below the national rate of 4.3%.

Last year, the state recorded its first annual job losses since the pandemic, as most industries across the state other than the health sector struggled to gain jobs, the Gazette previously reported. Colorado continued to record more job losses in February, but this trend has been reversed in March and April, according to employment reports from those two months. The month-over-month job gains from February to March were higher than initially reported. Revised data shared Friday showed the state gained 2,800 jobs, then, rather than the 1,400 initially reported.

The largest private industry job gains in April were in professional and business services, education and health services, trade, transportation, and utilities and financial activities, according to Friday’s report. There were no private industry sectors with notable jobs losses in April compared to March, the report said.

Colorado’s monthslong trend of fewer people participating in the workforce continued in April, according to the report. The share of Coloradans participating in the labor force in April was 66.1%, the report said, two-tenths of a percentage point lower than in March and the lowest labor force participation rate since August 2020. 

The unemployment rate is based on a survey of households, while jobs estimates are based on a separate survey of business establishments and government agencies.