The economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have increased the income divide in Colorado, according to a report released Tuesday by the Colorado Center on Law and Policy.

The report, “2020 State of Working Colorado,” found pandemic job losses have been greatest among Coloradans with low wages, including workers in the hospitality and leisure industries.

Even with vaccine distribution beginning, jobs in these industries will be slow to come back, if they do at all, the report said.

“Our economy relies on low-wage workers, and yet, we must be willing to make the structural changes needed to ensure that low-wage workers can make ends meet,” said Tiffani Lennon, executive director of CCLP.

In recent months, accommodation and food service workers have made up the bulk of Colorado’s unemployed, accounting for 31.4% of unemployment claims for the week ending on Dec. 5, according to state data.

They are followed by construction workers with 8.8% of claims and healthcare and social assistance workers with 8.3%.

As Colorado’s working class struggles to remain employed, the upper class continues to accumulate wealth.

According to the report, while wages for most Coloradans have stagnated, the growth in wages among the top 10% of earners has increased, widening the income gap.

The state’s rising wage inequality has contributed to residents struggling to pay for increasing housing, food and healthcare costs.

In 2020, Colorado had the ninth-most residents move out of the state, according to move.org.

Though the state also saw high numbers of new residents, 48% of movers said a loss of income was the primary reason for their move.

The report also analyzed newly released data from 2018 that shows a major disparity in income along racial lines before the pandemic.

In 2018, white Coloradans experienced poverty at a lower rate than the state average of 9.6%, while people of color experienced poverty at much higher rates.

According to the report, Black residents had an 18% poverty rate and American Indians/Alaska Natives had 18.7%.

White and Asian households in Colorado also had higher median incomes than other races.

The 2018 median income of white and Asian households was around $30,000 higher than of Black and American Indians/Alaska Natives households.

“Our economy is not working for most Coloradans,” Lennon said.

“Though we don’t know when this public health emergency will end and when our national and state economies will begin to recover, these findings demonstrate why we should not settle for simply a return to a ‘normal’ economy.”

The full report is available online at cclponline.org.