Obituaries will be written for two major Denver-area employers next year, but economists are confident the loss of more than 10,000 jobs will cause but a ripple in Colorado's vibrant economy.
During the 1980s, the oil bust sent thousands to unemployment lines. After that devastation, Colorado's leaders devised a new strategy: Diversification, diversification, diversification."I think we are less reliant on natural resources than we used to be," said economist Tucker Hart Adams. "We've broadened our economic base over time."
The new industries will provide jobs for many who will be out of work next year when Lowry Air Force Base closes and construction is completed on Denver International Airport, she predicted.
For centuries, Colorado's economy has been tethered to the fortunes of natural resources - up and down with agriculture, up and down with mining, up and down with oil.
But diversification has created a solid, economic base in construction, high technology, telecommunications, service and tourism, Adams said.
Companies - and people - are drawn to the state by a cleaner environment, lower cost of living, lower taxes and a feeling of security.
Laurie and Dan Jones returned to their hometown of Sterling despite thriving careers in Los Angeles to escape crime and raise their 3-year-old son, Jonathan, among family and friends."We wouldn't consider moving back," Laurie Jones said. "The support system in the community works with you. If there's ever a problem, there are people to turn to for help."
The signs of growth are everywhere in Colorado:
- The jobless rate totaled 5.3 percent in August, compared with the nation's jobless rate of 6.7 percent.
- Population has risen 6.9 percent and the state's work force has grown 7 percent over the past three years.
- The average annual income has climbed nearly $2,500 since 1990.
The slower-growth areas are the eastern plains and northwest Colorado, where natural resources still power the economy; Pueblo, and Durango, says economist Nancy McCallin of the Colorado Legislative Council.
The expanded opportunities have made Colorado an economic leader and a contender in the future global marketplace, said Phillip Burgess, head of the Denver-based Center For The New West.
The state also has benefited from the fast-developing "lone eagle" sector - telecommuters who live in rural areas but do business in larger cities via fax, computer and telephone, he said.
Jeff Bauer runs his burgeoning health-care industry consulting business from Hillrose, population 150, near Brush.
"I was getting tired of Denver's pollution, crime, noise," he said. "We just decided we didn't want to raise our kids in that kind of environment."
Linda Kakela, who works for the city of Steamboat Springs, says the northwestern Colorado resort town has been aggressively recruiting telecommuters for six years.
"We think that this valley really lends itself to the kind of lifestyle that the telecommuting population will seek," she said, but she did not have specific numbers on how many lived in the area.
After nearly 21 years in California, Tom Glassen's company transferred him to the Denver area. His wife, Kris, says the family has no regrets. She had become increasingly concerned about traffic, smog and a deterioration in education.
"I'm enjoying it immensely," Kris Glassen said from her mountain home in Evergreen. "Dollar for dollar, I think we got a whole lot more than what we would have gotten in San Diego as far as house, property."
McCallin and Adams both predict Colorado's economy will slow somewhat next year, citing the closure of Lowry, the completion of DIA and job uncertainty at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant near Denver. Job growth is expected to be about 1.5 percent statewide, compared with an estimated 2 percent to 3 percent this year.
But both believe Colorado has pulled free of the traditional boom-bust cycle.
"We've been steadily gaining momentum," Adams said, "and that's going to continue."