SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

Chapter 3 ⎯ Affected Environmentthe county population, and La Junta and Rocky Ford in Otero County together support 59 percent ofthe county population.Economy, Employment, and IncomeLittle permanent employment is directly associated with the PCMS. The majority of supplies neededfor training activities at the PCMS are assembled at FTC and transported to the PCMS with thetroops. No other military installations exist within the ROI.The counties in the ROI are rural; ranching and agriculture support much of the local economy. Majoremployers in Las Animas County include Burlington Northern/Santa Fe Railroad, Trinidad State JuniorCollege, oil and gas drilling enterprises, and related support businesses. A new minimum-securitycorrectional facility opened in 2003. The economy of Otero County is closely linked to agriculture includinglivestock (primarily cattle) production and farming. Major crops include dry land wheat, irrigatedcorn, and alfalfa hay. The largest employers are local and county government entities. HuerfanoCounty has a larger medium-security correctional facility that provides employment in the area.Employment data for the ROI were obtained from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment(State of Colorado 2006a). Between 1995 and 2005, the number of jobs increased from approximately17,400 to approximately 19,400 at an average annual rate of 1.1 percent (almost12 percent over the 10-year period). This pace of growth was well below that exhibited by the State ofColorado, which experienced an increase of approximately 21 percent over the same period. Most ofthe growth took place in Las Animas County, which accounted for more than 80 percent of thegrowth in employment.Compared with the State of Colorado, where only 1.5 percent of the work force is engaged in farming,the three counties in the ROI have high employment in farming - almost 10 percent in HuerfanoCounty and almost 8 percent in Las Animas and Otero Counties. Employment in government andgovernment enterprises (federal, state, and local) is high in Las Animas County (25.6 percent) andOtero County (20 percent). Huerfano County (13.2 percent) is slightly below the state average(13.6 percent). Federal, civilian, and military employment is below the state average, whereas employmentin state and local government is high in Las Animas and Otero Counties (24.2 percent and18.5 percent, respectively) compared to the state (10.4 percent).The unemployment rate in all counties of the ROI has consistently been above that of the state. Therate gradually fell from highs between 7.5 and 10 percent in 1992 to lows between 4 and 5.5 percentin 2000. Between 2000 and 2003, the unemployment rate ranged between 6.5 and 9 percent, and itfell again slightly through 2005 (State of Colorado 2006b).Non-farm wage and salary earnings in the ROI in 2004 totaled more than $544 million. The majoritywas contributed by Otero County (46 percent) and Las Animas County (40 percent). The concentrationof well-paying jobs in the government sector is evident when comparing the share of earningscontributed by the sector to the share of employment in the same sector. The share of earnings is noticeablyhigher than the share of employment.Earnings from the private sector are lower for each of the three counties in the ROI than for the state.This is also true for earnings in the federal, civilian, and military sectors. Earnings in the state and localgovernment sectors are noticeably higher than the state average, especially for Las AnimasCounty, where this category comprises almost 30 percent of total earnings.February 2008 3–165 2/25th SBCT Final EIS