\u201cThere were things that were changing on a weekly, if not daily basis, that made the report more challenging to write,\u201d said Glenda Mostek, executive director of the Colorado Nursery and Greenhouse Association, who also chaired the agriculture section of this year\u2019s report. \u201cWe met in mid-October and the report had to be written by Nov. 1. And so right after our meeting, (U.S. Farm Service Agency) offices opened back up for farmers to get disaster aid. And the government reopened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She tried to write her part of the report to consider various scenarios so it wouldn\u2019t seem out of date by December. And even though the Trump administration removed some tariffs on beef imports<\/a> after the committee wrapped up, the ongoing chaos of trade policies were already accounted for. Hence, farm income in Colorado is expected to fall 18% to $1.8 billion in 2026, down from $2.2 billion this year, according to the report.<\/p>\n \u201cThe effect will show up next year because a lot of farmers and in my industry, nursery and greenhouses, bought supplies that they expected would be covered by tariffs. A lot of buying was done in the first quarter this year,\u201d Mostek explained. \u201cI know some farm and ag accountants were raising their eyebrows at expenses happening back then, but they avoided tariffs that were implemented later in the year.\u201d<\/p>\n And that just means 2026 projections are, well, uncertain. That\u2019s kind of the theme of this year\u2019s report, coming together as it always does with guidance from about 130 people representing various industries, businesses and government agencies in Colorado. It\u2019s produced by the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado.<\/p>\n \u201cOne overarching theme this year is we\u2019re expecting much slower growth than what we\u2019ve experienced for the last several years,\u201d said Brian Lewandowski, executive director CU\u2019s Business Research Division. \u201cAnd even when we look at our overall forecast, the 2026 forecast within the margin of error could even be a little bit negative to more positive.\u201d<\/p>\n Job growth so slow, you\u2019d think there was a recession<\/p>\n His colleague, senior economist Rich Wobbekind, chimed in about how that could be: Different data contributes to the overall forecast figure. <\/p>\n For the state\u2019s GDP, this year\u2019s estimate is that Colorado is up 2.1% and next year, the forecast is an annual gain of 2.9%. But job growth? That is so low, it\u2019s better to say it\u2019s flat.\u00a0<\/p>\n When all is said and done, Leeds economists estimate Colorado will add 12,500 new jobs this year, and 17,500 new jobs next year. Those are just fractions of the state\u2019s roughly 3.16 million jobs, so this year\u2019s job growth rate is 0.4% and next year\u2019s is 0.6%.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how job growth or declines for the different sectors are expected to end up this year and next year, according to the Leeds\u2019 report:<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s two things to keep in mind here,\u201d Wobbekind said. \u201cOne is growth in employment, and one is growth in output. I\u2019d be really surprised if there\u2019s not positive GDP growth for the year. (But) with the pullback in immigration, the visas and so on, it\u2019s going to be very slow growth in our total labor force for Colorado. Year over year right now is basically flat. \u2026 You could see a situation where you\u2019ve got growth in output but you don\u2019t have much growth in employment.\u201d<\/p>\n But they\u2019re not predicting a recession because of the GDP growth.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese are really the two slowest growth years since the pandemic recession,\u201d Lewandowski said. \u201cAnd if you look back over 20 to 25 years, it\u2019s really unusual to have this slow of growth without entering a recession or without just exiting one.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the projections are based on new estimates from the State Demography Office, which revised the state\u2019s population forecast downward<\/a> last month due to lower international<\/a> immigration.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a very different thing,\u201d Wobbekind said. \u201cWe\u2019re not used to Colorado\u2019s population not growing. And we\u2019re not used to people from other parts of the country not coming to Colorado. And I\u2019m not talking about internationally but within the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Other economists feel less conservative about the state\u2019s job prospects. Thomas Young, senior economist with Common Sense Institute in Greenwood Village, felt the report\u2019s job growth estimate for this year was too low.<\/p>\n Based on nonfarm job growth through August this year, Young said Colorado was at 2.992 million jobs or up 14,000 jobs for the year thus far. That\u2019s a 0.6% growth rate. If it drops to 0.4%, that means Colorado lost 2,000 jobs between August and December.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cInstead of losing jobs for the remainder of the year, I think we\u2019ll keep adding, albeit by historical standards, slow. I think something like +18,000 job growth for the year, so adding another 4,000 between now and the end of the year instead of losing 2,000,\u201d Young said in an email.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gary Horvath, an economist in Broomfield, is even more optimistic. \u201cI expect Colorado employment will increase by 25,000 this year and 35,000 in 2026,\u201d he said in an email. \u201cThe U.S. economy was driven by uncertainty in 2025. The economy will be more settled in 2026. Colorado will benefit from reduced uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n Manufacturing expected to grow again<\/p>\n For the third year, Colorado manufacturers lost workers again, declining 0.9% this year. Blame artificial intelligence and automation \u2014 or credit the technologies for improving next year\u2019s prospects. Manufacturing jobs are expected to grow by 1% to roughly 149,200 jobs in 2026.<\/p>\n While concerns about federal immigration policies and local workers was a topic of discussion for the report\u2019s working group, members felt the impact was minimal, at least in Colorado, where the largest nondurable goods manufacturing is food. That sector is expected to add 1,100 jobs next year, a 1.9% annual growth rate. There\u2019s also a growing number of manufacturing jobs that require training and skills, like aerospace, quantum computing and clean tech.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere has been a lot of automation happening in the sector anyway,\u201d said Jennifer Hagan-Dier, vice president of Manufacturer\u2019s Edge in Lakewood, who sat on the committee. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a dramatic change in the adoption of robotics and digital manufacturing because it\u2019s become cheaper and easier to access.\u201d<\/p>\n But there\u2019s still plenty of other challenges, including getting the state\u2019s smaller makers up to speed on how to implement and use technology. Manufacturer\u2019s Edge, an official Manufacturing Extension Partnership that\u2019s partly funded by the federal government, is tasked with supporting those small-to-midsized manufacturers by providing support, training and technical assistance.<\/p>\n \u201c(AI) can be used for demand planning, or maybe you don\u2019t have a person on staff but you need to figure out what your inventory needs to look like over the next 12 months. If you have the right prompts, and the right AI tool, it can do that work for you,\u201d Hagan-Dier said. \u201cThat\u2019s the artificial intelligence side. On the other, there\u2019s prototyping and all kinds of other things. From our perspective, we have to start the educational component.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The organization hopes to offer a series of AI workshops. But speaking of uncertainty, Manufacturer\u2019s Edge found out federal funding for MEPs across the country was \u201czeroed out\u201d and some lost funding and had to shut down<\/a>. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Leeds-CO-Business-Economic-Outlook-2026.png\")
<\/a>The Colorado Business Economic Outlook for 2026 will be available publicly on Dec. 8, 2025. The annual report is overseen by the University of Colorado Boulder\u2019s Leeds School of Business and involves more than 130 experts in various industries. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Brian-Lewandowski-Leeds-1200x900.jpg\")
Brian Lewandowski, executive director of the Business Research Division at University of Colorado Boulder, Leeds School. (Tamara Chuang, The Colorado Sun)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Richard-Wobbekind-e1670376230548-1200x821.jpg\")
Richard Wobbekind, Associate Dean for Business & Government Relations, Senior Economist and Faculty Director of the Business Research Division and at the University of Colorado Boulder. (Tamara Chuang, The Colorado Sun)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CO-migration-slowdown-state-demography-office-1200x642.png\")
<\/a>In the latest population update <\/a>from the State Demography Office on Nov. 7, 2025, State Forecast Demographer Neal Marquez shared a slide showing how the year\u2019s slowdown in job growth plus changes to international migration policy is slowing the number of new residents migrating to Colorado. The \u201cVintage 2024\u201d is the revision to prior estimates. (Screenshot)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CU-Boulder-Quantum-incubator-1200x605.png\")
University of Colorado Boulder with partners Elevate Quantum and other universities announced it would open a quantum incubator in Boulder for startups and researchers interested in taking ideas out of the lab and turning them into reality. (University of Colorado, Boulder)<\/p>\n