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Prowers County unemployment rate down
LAMAR, COLO.
(hppr) -
The unemployment rate in Prowers County is still decreasing. It's down to five percent and Lisa Nolder the executive director of Prowers County Development Incorporated says she's some instances of jobs being filled.
We have seen some effects on a limited scale. We do have some construction jobs taking place. We have some projects that are underway we have a new hotel being constructed right now and we have some other construction on some plant facilities underway so that is probably what contributed to the lowering of the unemployment rate.
Nolder says obviously construction jobs come and go, but with the new hotel and some other projects she expects an increase in long term jobs in those sectors, which will be good for the region. However, not all job news is good. Nolder has seen a sharp decrease in some local manufacturing and hasn't seen much growth in other sectors either.
Right now I would have to say not. I think the ag industry will hold steady, and I think hopefully the cattle industry will hold steady as well, and hopefully we'll see some growth in manufacturing in the next two to three years. Everything else pretty well holds it's own. Obviously our retail communities have been hit really hard and I think last year we had 4 shops close here locally on Main Street, but there are still several holding their own.
Nolder says she's also seen some unfreezing of positions on a small scale at private businesses. She says there are some businesses in the process of opening. One new employer will be Legacy Bank. The Wiley-based bank is opening up a branch in Lamar.
The branch in Lamar is not quite yet open, we started construction in about August and we'll be done in early November, any day now, maybe one or two weeks.
That's Dave Esgar, the president of Legacy Bank. He says the branch will create three new jobs and they are also moving a couple of already hired employees to Lamar. Esgar is optimistic about the effect the branch can have on the community.
Well, I think one thing every banker likes to point out is that every dollar we lend in a community kind of multiplies by they used to say seven, you know as sort of a multiplier factor, so mainly through the lending arm of the branch there we should be able to create quite a bit of money, stirring in the community.
Ron Stock serves as the city administrator for the City of Lamar. He doesn't see any city job openings on the horizon.
No, we're going to maintain our current workforce, but our 2010 budget is so lean that every part time position we've had in previous years has been eliminated, except for the recreation department.
That's approximately 11 part-time jobs. Within the area Stock hasn't heard of any new positions being filled, except Dragon Industries a local company that has indicated it will have new positions opening in 2010.
No, I haven't heard of anyone who's hiring so I really don't know what's going on, let me take a look at the newspaper. Well, you could be a paper boy, no there's nothing even listed in the newspaper as a help wanted.
Stock says he doesn't know why unemployment rates would be down, but perhaps people have used up their unemployment compensation after being unemployed for several months. He points out that unemployment numbers don't count everyone who is looking for a job. This is Lindsey Fields, HPPR News.
© Copyright 2009, hppr
(2009-11-02)
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We have seen some effects on a limited scale. We do have some construction jobs taking place. We have some projects that are underway we have a new hotel being constructed right now and we have some other construction on some plant facilities underway so that is probably what contributed to the lowering of the unemployment rate.
Nolder says obviously construction jobs come and go, but with the new hotel and some other projects she expects an increase in long term jobs in those sectors, which will be good for the region. However, not all job news is good. Nolder has seen a sharp decrease in some local manufacturing and hasn't seen much growth in other sectors either.
Right now I would have to say not. I think the ag industry will hold steady, and I think hopefully the cattle industry will hold steady as well, and hopefully we'll see some growth in manufacturing in the next two to three years. Everything else pretty well holds it's own. Obviously our retail communities have been hit really hard and I think last year we had 4 shops close here locally on Main Street, but there are still several holding their own.
Nolder says she's also seen some unfreezing of positions on a small scale at private businesses. She says there are some businesses in the process of opening. One new employer will be Legacy Bank. The Wiley-based bank is opening up a branch in Lamar.
The branch in Lamar is not quite yet open, we started construction in about August and we'll be done in early November, any day now, maybe one or two weeks.
That's Dave Esgar, the president of Legacy Bank. He says the branch will create three new jobs and they are also moving a couple of already hired employees to Lamar. Esgar is optimistic about the effect the branch can have on the community.
Well, I think one thing every banker likes to point out is that every dollar we lend in a community kind of multiplies by they used to say seven, you know as sort of a multiplier factor, so mainly through the lending arm of the branch there we should be able to create quite a bit of money, stirring in the community.
Ron Stock serves as the city administrator for the City of Lamar. He doesn't see any city job openings on the horizon.
No, we're going to maintain our current workforce, but our 2010 budget is so lean that every part time position we've had in previous years has been eliminated, except for the recreation department.
That's approximately 11 part-time jobs. Within the area Stock hasn't heard of any new positions being filled, except Dragon Industries a local company that has indicated it will have new positions opening in 2010.
No, I haven't heard of anyone who's hiring so I really don't know what's going on, let me take a look at the newspaper. Well, you could be a paper boy, no there's nothing even listed in the newspaper as a help wanted.
Stock says he doesn't know why unemployment rates would be down, but perhaps people have used up their unemployment compensation after being unemployed for several months. He points out that unemployment numbers don't count everyone who is looking for a job. This is Lindsey Fields, HPPR News.
© Copyright 2009, hppr
