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El Pomar hosts Colorado State Demographer, warns shortages are not going away anytime soon

El Pomar's first in-person event since 2019 focused on growth and population trends in Colorado
Posted at 12:50 AM, Apr 22, 2022
and last updated 2022-04-22 02:50:05-04

COLORADO SPRINGS — A person is a job and a job is a person, according to Elizabeth Garner, the Colorado State Demographer.

"A job is a person, and a housing unit is where that job sleeps at night. How can you love jobs, but hate people?" Garner asked on Thursday, at the first in-person event by El Pomar since 2019.

The event focused on growth in Colorado, specifically Colorado Springs.

The State's Demographer Office's data says the United States saw its lowest growth rate on record at 0.1%. Colorado continued growing, but at a slower rate than usual and fell from the top 10 fastest growing states in the country. to the top 20.

"We actually grew this last decade, a little slower than what we were projecting, but why did we feel so bad? Was it maybe be cause we haven't kept up with transportation and infrastructure? Is it maybe we didn't keep up with housing."

The data also shows the majority of people migrating to Colorado Springs are in their 20s.

Business owners in town, like Eric Phillips who owns 3E's Comedy Club in downtown, are looking at younger people as potential employees.

"Some of our young people don't look for the same things we used to look for. When I was 16, 17... I was like, I got to have a car right now. and it's not that way, they can ride a bike, they can Uber."

Garner says the slower growth rate is going to impact the labor and housing shortage.

"We're seeing this slow down and the biggest impact is really going to be on the labor force. Huge impact on labor force into the future and so some of the questions are - How do we really attract and retain?"

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