FIFTY-SIXTH ANNUAL COLORADO BUSINESS ECONOMIC OUTLOOK 2021 Additional copies may be ordered from: Business Research Division University of Colorado Boulder 420 UCB Boulder, CO 80309-0420 colorado.edu/business/brd ISBN 978-0-89478-034-9 Copyright 2020 by the Business Research Division Leeds School of Business University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO 80309-0420 The University of Colorado Boulder is an equal opportunity/nondiscrimination institution. Information in this book is correct at the time of printing but may be subject to change. Material contained within the accompanying tables is in the public domain and, with appropriate credit, may be reproduced without permission. Please reference, “Business Research Division, Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder.” Printed on recycled paper. Leeds School of Business Corporate Partners ANGEL INVESTORS PRINCIPAL INVESTORS LEAD INVESTORS PROGRAM INVESTORS Table of Contents Leeds School of Business .................................................................................................... 2 Other Services ...................................................................................................... 122 Introduction ... ...................................................................................................................... 3 Government .......................................................................................................... 124 Colorado Then and Now .................................................................................................... 4 International Trade ..............................................................................................133 U.S. Economic Outlook ...................................................................................................... 6 Summary ...............................................................................................................142 Colorado Economic, Employment, and Population Outlook ....................................... 8 Around the Region ..............................................................................................144 Agriculture ............................................................................................................ 20 Around the State Natural Resources and Mining .......................................................................... 25 Boulder County ...................................................................................146 Kit Carson County ..............................................................................148 Construction ........................................................................................................ 35 Mesa County ........................................................................................148 Manufacturing ...................................................................................................... 40 Northern Colorado .............................................................................153 Trade, Transportation, and Utilities .................................................................. 47 Pueblo County .....................................................................................154 Information........................................................................................................... 54 Southern Colorado ..............................................................................155 Southwest Colorado ............................................................................157 Financial Activities .............................................................................................. 63 Steering Committee Members ...........................................................................................160 Professional and Business Services .................................................................... 86 Estimating Groups ..............................................................................................................161 Education and Health Services .......................................................................... 98 Leisure and Hospitality ....................................................................................... 107 2021 Colorado Business Economic Outlook Leeds School of Business Dear Business Colleagues, #1 It’s been an unprecedented year. The outbreak of COVID-19 caused a very dramatic disruption to higher #1 Business School education; within a matter of days, we transformed the delivery of our curricula to remote learning and in Colorado reimagined the traditional business school experience at the Leeds School of Business. Over the summer, we worked very hard with our own campus experts to develop and implement strategies #15 in Entrepreneurship for a healthy and safe fall experience. This semester, our students have been able to continue their degree #15 Full-Time MBA Program progress through a variety of in-person, distance, and hybrid courses. While we do not yet know what 2021 Bloomberg Businessweek will bring, we are continuing to do everything we can to ensure the quality and consistency of our business (2019-20) education and lead our faculty, staff, and students through this uncertain time. #21 Best Public Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, our undergraduate business program was recently named #21 among public Undergraduate Business universities in U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 Best Undergraduate Business Programs, and our undergraduate class of 2020 #21 Program U.S. News & achieved more than 85% career placement—a remarkable feat in the current, highly uncertain economic climate. This was possible World Report (2021) because of the many ways the Leeds community came together to lift up our new graduates, helping them identify opportunities and navigate the process of landing a position in this new reality. #24 in the world These achievements are the result of our unique combination of academic excellence and connection to one of the nation’s most Leeds’ faculty per-capita vibrant business communities. In terms of academic excellence, we have continued to attract top faculty talent from universities research ranking such as Stanford, Berkeley, Duke, and Northwestern to inspire and educate our students and create impactful research that is Top 25 helping businesses like yours. Strong partnerships with our nationally recognized, innovative business community are mission-critical to us. Our goal is providing Our freshman class: high-quality talent to be your organization’s next generation of leaders. For example, our Career Impact initiative works with Class of 29.63 ACT average, key business leaders, locally and globally, to understand the essential skills and attributes that future business professionals need. 2024 46.17% women, The insights we’ve learned have informed new innovations in our curriculum and programs. Additionally, we have made great 30.05% students of color momentum in our End the Gap initiative, aimed at achieving 50% female enrollment across all programs, which helps us contribute the finest, diverse candidates to drive your organizations forward. 77% 4-year graduation 77% Our joint building expansion and partnership with the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences is another example of our rate (undergraduate) efforts to deliver the talent our region needs. This first-of-its-kind physical connection between Business and Engineering, and the direct link it facilitates to our dynamic business community, positions us to better prepare future generations of leaders to drive meaningful change in the world. This unprecedented partnership will shape interactions between the worlds of business and Launched new Executive technology in a way that will differentiate us and elevate our schools and campus for decades to come. We opened spaces in the new MBA program (2020) Tandean Rustandy building this fall, and the grand opening will be in spring 2021. We are delighted to share this 56th annual economic outlook with you as part of our commitment to provide you with important 11 MBA and specialized access to our world-class research. We hope the forecast is positive for your business in the year ahead. MBA & MS MS programs for working Best regards, professionals Sharon Matusik, Ph.D., Dean, Leeds School of Business 2 2021 Colorado Business Economic Outlook Introduction preparing, presenting, and promoting this project. My sin- he Business Research this series of meetings, the sector write-ups and forecasts cerest thanks go to Brian Lewandowski, executive direc- Division (BRD) in the Leeds are prepared and submitted to the BRD in early Novem- T tor; Jacob Dubbert, research economist; Shannon Furniss, School of Business is proud ber, when they are edited and published in this book. The project editor; Kristin Weber, graphic designer; Denise to present our 56th annual following July, the Steering Committee, which is made Munn, senior manager of print production manage- Colorado Business Economic up of the sector chairs, meets to review their forecasts ment; and James Donahue, Max Olson, Rachel Long, and Outlook. This 2021 consensus and identify factors that will positively or negatively drive Anna Sernka, student research assistants, for their help in forecast is a product of partner- change in their industry’s economic performance during assembling and presenting the 2021 Colorado Business ships with individuals spanning the second half of the year. These updates are published in Economic