What’s Working: Back and forth recession fears continue

BY TAMARA CHUANG THE COLORADO SUN

Even as the number of Coloradans ling to start a new business hit a new high this year, a “light” recession may come sooner than later, said economists from the University of Colorado during the Secretary of State’s quarterly economic update this month.

It was a week, after all, where another bank failed and the Federal Reserve increased interest rates. And it followed a recent report that the nation’s economic growth saw a signi cant slowdown in the rst quarter.

“It’s already increasing lending standards and it’s requiring the banks to be more cautious about making loans,” said Richard Wobbekind, senior economist and faculty director at the Business Research Division at CU’s Leeds School of Business. “ at could really slow down small business in particular given the types of banks we’re talking about.” e Leeds economists have been hinting at a recession for several quarters but were pinning it to the second half of 2023. “It was some- what of a disappointing rst quarter,” Brian Lewandowski, executive director of CU’s Business Research Division, said during the news conference ursday.

A bright spot? Consumer spend- ing. It grew at an annual rate of 3.7%, which was better than the fourth quarter growth of 1%.

“ at’s notable because there are all of these headwinds on the consumer that we continue to be worried about, ranging from negative real wage growth to consumers facing higher in ation, taking on more debt and paying higher interest rates,” Lewandowski said. “ ese are all things that should logically point to a slowdown in consumption. But, in fact, rst quarter consumption came in pretty strong.”

Next up is jobs and whether the slowing job growth in Colorado will improve. e state’s lagging job growth rate of 1.2% last year ranked Colorado as the second slowest state nationwide, behind West Virginia.

But the state Department of Labor and Employment said the number was likely undercounted and revisions of 17,400 are expected. at would improve Colorado’s outlook but still put the state around a 2% job growth rate last year, ranking it around 39th or 40th in the nation, Lewandowski said.

“A lot of this rests on hiring nationally,” he said. “I think what keeps us between slow growth and light recession is the pace of job growth.” e number of job openings in the state translates to 2.4 job openings for every unemployed Coloradan.

View the Quarterly Business & Economic Indicators 1Q 2023 report April job growth better than expected. e U.S. added 253,000 jobs in April, which beat forecasts. It was lower than the average monthly gain of 290,000 for the past six months but was unexpected considering the recent economic turmoil of the banking and tech industries. e nation’s unemployment rate came in at

3.4% for the month, down from 3.5% in March. >>

NY Times

UCCS outlook on recession: Yes, no, maybe?

Translating economic data seems like a Sisyphean task and one that is most accurate in retrospect. Economist Joe Craig addressed the topic earlier this week during a public meeting for the University of Colorado Colorado Springs Economic Forum, where he serves as interim director.

“People always ask, ‘Are we going into recession?’” Craig said. “Maybe? Probably? I don’t know. If you guys have been paying attention to my dashboard, I swear I switch every month.” e important thing, he said, is that people have jobs.

“Do you feel like you’re in a recession if you’re still employed and you can still meet all of your bills? Probably not,” he said. “A lot of what life is about is how do you feel about it? If you have a job, if you’re working, if you’re not worried about being evicted next month, even if you are in a recession, I’d argue that most people are OK with that situation. Maybe they’re not happy. ey’re not taking all the vacations they want to take, but they’re still employed.”

El Paso County had a 2.8% unemployment rate in March, which he called “crazy low.” Unemployment rates are pretty low all over the place, including Colorado’s 2.8% and the U.S. at 3.6%. at’s showing that even though wages are up, it’s still hard for employers to hire, he said. Hence, the back and forth with the recession since more jobs show growth.

For now, data from the Pikes Peak Workforce Center is showing that there are 43,000 job openings compared to 10,000 unemployed workers in Colorado Springs. at’s four jobs for every unemployed worker. It’s the skills mismatch that causes the disconnect, so that’s why job training is a priority at the workforce center.

In Colorado Springs, the top types of job openings were registered nurses, software developers and computer workers.

“ ere’s a skills mismatch, and that’s a problem,” he said. “ e upside is we do have people who want jobs.” is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun. com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media

Denver Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates its 75th anniversary

BY BRUCE GOLDBERG SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

Oldies but goodies, indeed.

e Denver Philharmonic Orchestra is celebrating its 75 this year, and it is planning a jubilant throwback concert.

“We’ve been operating continuously for 75 years and putting on wonderful concerts for the community for all those years,” said Lawrence Golan, DPO’s conductor since 2013. “ is particular concert is the culmination of our 75th anniversary, basically a re-creation of May 18, 1948, which was our rst concert.” e 75th anniversary Crown Jewel program takes place on May 25 on the Antonia Brico Stage at Central Presbyterian Church, 1660 Sherman St., in Denver.

The renowned Antonia Brico

By the time she had settled in Denver, Antonia Brico had conducted professional orchestras in Europe and the U.S., including the Berlin Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic.

According to the DPO’s website, Brico saw a “need for a classical music venue to showcase the talents of local, classically trained musicians ‘with no place to play.’”

She founded the DPO as the Denver Businessmen’s Orchestra in 1948.

Brico, who lived from 1902-1989, continued to conduct the DPO until her retirement in the 1980s. Today, she is the namesake of the stage that the DPO performs on.

Same music, di erent eras Golan plans to boost the nostalgia quotient of the Crown Jewel concert with performances from the organization’s inaugural program. It will include three selections from the 1948 show, including Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Coriolan Overture,” “En Saga” by Jean Sibelius and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Symphony No. 40.”

“ e original concert was much longer, two or three hours,” Golan said. “At that time, it was before television, and (it) was a time really used for live entertainment (and) live events, whether it was theater, opera, symphony.”

Today, there’s many forms of entertainment — including TV and the internet — and more things that families do together, Golan added.

“Everybody is so busy these days,” he said, “and concerts tend to be short.”

He expects the Crown Jewel program will last about an hourand-a-half to two hours, including intermission.

More Than Music

Attendees will also get to participate in the DPO’s More an Music.

ese events are themed for each concert and o er an additional ex- perience to the concert. More an Music ranges from pre-concert chats, during which concert-goers learn insight into the program’s music, to post-concert receptions where concert-goers can enjoy refreshments and meet the musi-

To get an idea of how the More an Music themes work, when DPO performed its Celtic Celebration around St. Patrick’s Day, the program included both Scottish and Irish music — Mendelssohn’s Scottish symphony, as well as an Irish piece of the Brendan Voyage, written by Shawn Davey, a living

“Before the concert, and during intermission, there were more happenings, such as serving Irish whiskey and Scotch, plus tastings and Irish step dancing,” Golan said. “For the kids, we had miniature

He added that the sport was born

Roger Haak joins the DPO

As DPO reaches back this year, the organization recently welcomed Roger Haak as its new executive director.

Haak replaces Valerie Clausen, who is transitioning from the position after 11 years. Clausen has been a violinist in the orchestra for 17 years, and it is expected she will continue to serve the DPO.

Haak’s background includes work with the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, and the Artosphere Festival Orchestra in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He also is a classically trained vocalist and a new talent coordinator at Comedy Works in Denver, which occasionally requires a little standup on his part.

Haak comes to DPO from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, where he was VIP ticketing manager.

“I’m like a one-stop shop,” Haak said, adding his role with the DPO touches upon just about every detail involved in running such a unique organization. e DPO “enables me to incorporate everything I learned at DCPA and elsewhere.”

A local connection

Antonia Brico was a trailblazer, Haak said. She was told that she could not be a conductor of an orchestra based solely on her gender, he added.

But “she came to Denver, and now we get to perform this again in Denver,” Haak said of the Crown Jewel concert. “ ere’s a real local connection happening here.”

To learn more about the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra, or to purchase tickets to its Crown Jewel concert, visit denverphilharmonic. org.