Economic forecaster: recession in Denver will be milder than nationwide

Dr. Ken Mayland, President of Clearview Economics, LLC, a firm which specializes in economic forecasting and research, predicts that the current recession will be felt less in Colorado than nationwide.  Speaking this morning before KeyBank's 2009 Economic Forecast Presentation, Mayland cited several reasons for believing that Colorado would be able to avoid the worst effects of the recession.  The first were relatively stable home prices and an attractive environment for business.  A recent survey found that Colorado was rated as the fourth most competitive state in the nation, based on a number of factors including taxes, legal system, minimum wage and workmen's compensation costs. 
 

Mayland was less optimistic about the nation's economy as a whole.  That the nation is in recession, Mayland states is "a virtual certainty," given Thursday's Bureau of Labor Statistics initial unemployment claims figure of 542,000, the highest number in 16 years. 

Historians have noted that aside from the parts of the state affected by the Dust Bowl, Colorado fared considerably better than the rest of the nation during the Great Depression of the 1930s as well.  Some mountain towns experienced a reopening of gold and silver mines that had been dormant since the 1910s and it was even reported that a few individuals even managed to eke out a living panning for gold along the South Platte River and Cherry Creek within Denver city limits.