Printer friendly version2nd Quarter 2006
REGION 9
In this inaugural issue, the Office of Economic Analysis & Business Research in the School of Business Administration at Fort Lewis College and Region 9 EDD team up to discuss macroeconomic data pertinent to Region 9. Our evaluation of income, unemployment, and inflation indicate a strong economic base with indicators of growth in the region.
Income Levels
Average annual income in Region 9 continues to grow, see Tables 1 and 2, and is slowly catching up with the rest of the state, Table 3. Region 9's average income for the year 2005 increased about 4.5% to just over $25,000, or about 60% of average Colorado statewide income. La Plata County continues to have the highest average income of any of the Region 9 counties with an annual income of about $32,000, or about 29% higher than average. The lowest annual income is in Dolores, about 21% below average.
Table 3 presents annual average income as relative to the rest of the Colorado. Overall, since 2001, Region 9's weighted average income has grown from just over 58% of the state average to just almost 62%. La Plata has grown the fastest, relative to the state, of the five counties and Dolores the slowest.
Figure 1 presents a gross county product (GCP) index of the region and state and demonstrates how the five Region 9 economies have grown relative to Colorado. The quarterly data runs from the first quarter of 2001 to the fourth quarter of 2005. Generally, we can see that Region 9 economies have grown faster than the rest of the state. We can see that while Colorado's aggregate economy contracted for a couple periods, 2002 and 2003, Region 9 grew at a fairly constant rate, the smallest county, San Juan excepted.
Table 4 presents the average weekly wages for Region 9, state, and nation. Like overall income, Region 9 weekly wages are about 60% of the state average (see Figure 2 where data has been smoothed to remove seasonal fluctuations). Though not presented here, the ratio of La Plata's weekly wage to Colorado has grown the fastest, rising from 68% in 2001 to 80% in 2005. Both Dolores and San Juan have stayed more or less constant relative to Colorado.
Figure 3 normalizes the weekly wage to 2001 wages for Region 9, Colorado, and nation. As before, this allows us to make more direct comparisons of how income and productivity is growing over all regions. The three counties with the fastest growing income levels are La Plata, Archuleta, and Montezuma.
Figure 4 presents the weekly wage growth rate and shows La Plata's wage has grown quickly, over 4% per year; about one percentage point above both Colorado and the nation as a whole. Archuleta and Montezuma have also seen faster wage growth than the nation, and are slower than La Plata by less than one percentage point.
