Las Animas County labor market remains under heavy strain, new data shows

A smaller paycheck pool in Las Animas County means fewer dollars moving through Trinidad’s stores, harder choices for families, and more young workers deciding whether they can build a future here. The latest monthly labor figures show a county still under strain, with 343 residents unemployed in February and 4,868 holding jobs out of a labor force of 5,211.

A year earlier, the county’s labor force stood at 5,618, with 5,228 employed and 390 unemployed. That means the labor force shrank by 407 people in 12 months, while employment fell by 360. Even though the number of unemployed residents was lower than a year ago, the bigger picture was not a clean recovery. In a county with a 2024 population estimate of 14,518 and a civilian labor-force participation rate of 51.9% for 2020-2024, those swings can hit harder than they would in a larger metro area.

The comparison to neighbors makes the pressure clearer. Huerfano County posted a 7.9% unemployment rate in February, while Colorado’s statewide rate was 3.9%. Las Animas County’s own February rate, based on the jobless and labor-force totals, came in at 6.6%, well above the state level and still a sign of a regional labor market that has not fully steadied. Colorado employers also lost 7,200 nonfarm payroll jobs from January to February, leaving the state with 2,953,500 jobs.

For Trinidad, Aguilar, Starkville and Weston, that gap shows up in the daily economy. Retailers and restaurants depend on steady local spending, schools feel the effects when families move or tighten budgets, and employers have a harder time recruiting and keeping workers. The county’s own workforce response is built around the Trinidad Workforce Center at 140 N. Commercial St., where residents can get job-search help, training connections, networking and skills assessments, while employers can use recruiting, screening, hiring-event and upskilling services.

Trinidad State College has also said its Workforce Solutions program is intended to help businesses “grow their own” workers through targeted upskilling, and the City of Trinidad has commissioned housing and market studies as part of its economic strategy. Those efforts point to the same conclusion: Las Animas County’s labor problem is not a one-month blip, but a long-running test of whether the county can turn more residents into steady workers and keep them there.