Manufacturing is a critical part of Colorado’s economy. Between 1998 and 2010 manufacturing employment decreased significantly in the state and the nation. Despite a slight rebound in jobs, Colorado’s concentration, or location quotient (LQ), of manufacturing workers has not bounced back.
A LQ is the local concentration of workers in a particular sector relative to the concentration in another area (typically the other area is the United States). If the local concentration is the same as the national concentration, the LQ=1.
The Colorado LQ for manufacturing is .645.
In December 2012:
- 5.72% of Colorado employment was manufacturing
- 8.87% of U.S. employment was manufacturing.
- 5.72% / 8.87% = .645
Colorado has a lower concentration of manufacturing that the U.S. In short, this is important because many manufacturing jobs have higher than average pay. As well, segments of the manufacturing industry are critical components of the state’s high tech cluster.
For additional information on the state’s manufacturing sector check out Colorado Manufacturing Update Analysis of Employment Data Through 2012. It is available in the Special Reports section at https://cber.co.
©Copyright 2011 by CBER.