Colorado attracts new businesses but needs housing

BY FREDA MIKLIN STAFF WRITER

On April 6, Denver South hosted Laura Rodriguez, Vice President, Economic Competitiveness & Corporate Attraction, Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation (MDEDC), who presented a program on the topic of making and keeping our state competitive for attracting and retaining the businesses that power our robust economy. Over 100 leaders in business, education, and government came to the Lone Tree Arts Center to listen.

bachelor’s degree or higher makes our state extremely attractive to businesses looking at relocating.

Less positive was the fact that Colorado’s population growth in 2022 at 0.5% put it at the slowest rate it had been since 1989, while metro Denver’s was below zero. “This was the first time in nearly 20 years that the metro Denver region had negative net-migration,” Rodriguez said. MDEDC found that more people were leaving metro Denver than moving here “and they were choosing places that were more affordable.”

Although Colorado tied with Vermont as the second most highly educated state in the nation for college graduates (Massachusetts is, of course, first, with 118 colleges and universities in Boston alone), we ranked 42nd in the U.S. in our high school graduation rates and 38th in the percentage of our state’s high school graduates who go on to college.

Rodriguez shared that MDEDC examined 36 key economic indicators to evaluate Colorado’s competitive position nationally and in comparison to the ten states with whom we regularly compete for economic development projects: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.

Our state ranks in the top ten across the country in nearly half of the most important economic indicators, however Colorado has declined in 14 of the 36 indicators relative to our top competitors.

Colorado shined in its labor force participation rate, being one of only four states that recovered completely from the pandemic in that category by 2022. Having a lower median age than other states and a productive work base with 44% of all adults having a

“In order for economic growth and development to continue, we really need workers that excel in STEM fields. One measure of the prevalence of STEM education is the number of science, engineering, and health graduate students… (in which) Colorado ranks 11th, ahead of nine competing states,” Rodriguez explained, concluding, “We can’t rely on the highly educated net in-migration to support us as we move forward.” In addition to improving our K-12 graduation rates, “As a region we need to be tackling issues related to affordability. The net migration we see from Denver is directly related to the cost of living and availability of housing.”

Other economic indicators favored Colorado. MDEDC found that our state ranked seventh nationally in the category of physical and social well-being and economic access. Only one direct competitor, California, ranked higher than Colorado, but they were 50th in job availability.

Although job availability

“Colorado and the metro Denver region are seen as a hub for start-up activity. Cuttingedge technology characterizes Colorado’s economic base. It has ranked in the top four since 2000.” was average here, only two of our close competitors, Utah and Georgia, ranked in the top ten. Indiana and Nebraska held the number one and two positions for job availability, but neither is considered a direct competitor.

Colorado ranked 13th in new business growth in 2021, its highest rank ever. The Kaufmann Foundation’s Index ranked our state eighth in new business entrepreneurship in 2021, up 14 spots from 2020.

“Colorado and metro Den- ver region are seen as a hub for start-up activity,” Rodriguez said.

Another bright spot for our state was MDEDC’s finding that, “Cutting edge technology characterizes Colorado’s economic base,” that ranked fourth in its concentration of high-tech employees. Even more significantly, “It has ranked in the top four since 2000.”

The field of energy also offered positive news. In 2021, Colorado generated 33% of its electricity from renewable sources, making it 14th in the country. It was 7th nationwide in wind energy, growing 13% in wind energy between 2020 and 2021. Overall, “Strong policies and investment from our state’s utility providers mean that renewables fill an increasingly important place in our state’s energy portfolio and the sector supports thousands of jobs in Colorado from manufacturing turbine components to installing wind and solar energy,” Rodriguez explained.

An interesting, if somewhat startling statistic Rodriguez cited was in the area of obesity. Colorado was first in that category, with the lowest adult obesity rate, for the past 18 years. It is now second, which isn’t as concerning as the fact that our state’s rate of 25% of the population qualifying as obese is what gave us second place in the nation and, “adult obesity rates now exceed 35% in 19 states.” these local officials see SB23213 as unnecessary and intrusive.

Other local elected officials who testified stood firmly on their belief that they are accountable solely to the people who elected them and their values, as reflected in their jurisdiction’s land use policies, which they point out is consistent with the Colorado Constitution’s home rule provisions. They also note that local determination of land use principles and guidelines has been the accepted practice and policy in this state for well over a century and it is neither appropriate nor legal to declare housing policy to be a matter of both state and local concern, rather than just local concern, to justify the state stepping in to change how land use policies are set.