Grand Junction Daily Sentinel Newspaper-September 3, 2007
By Anonymous


Developers of major commercial projects certainly aren't curbing their enthusiasm for the Grand Junction market. Witness the announcement last week by Texas-based Gulf Coast Commercial Development that it plans to construct a large new commercial center along 24 Road near the Regal Cinema 14 theater. The same company built the nearby Kohl's store that opened last year.

No doubt its plans were buoyed by the news from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics last week that the Grand Junction area experienced the fastest job growth on a percentage basis in the state in the past year, creating 3,300 new jobs from July 2006 through July 2007.

Furthermore, the area maintained its ranking as having one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state, a minuscule 3.2 percent. More significantly, that number represents the lowest unemployment rate among Colorado cities large enough to be classified a Metropolitan Statistical Area.

As economist Tucker Hart Adams and others have noted however, the majority of the job growth and the related strength of the economy is driven by the booming energy industry, which will eventually soften.

But unlike the early 1980s, when the oil shale industry went bust, the natural gas industry is not being fueled by unrealistic energy-price speculation or the prospect of vast federal subsidies. Moreover, the local economy is far more diversified now. There are more private firms involved in businesses other than energy. Tourism is a more significant factor than it was, with more year-round attractions now. Public entities such as Mesa State College have grown substantially since then. And public construction projects by the city, county, school district and college will help keep the construction sector active.

Nonetheless, energy is the giant in the local economy and the day will come when it begins to scale back. Flush economic times never last forever. No one should ever believe otherwise.

(c) 2007 Cox Newspapers, Inc. - The Daily Sentinel

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