Colorado’s unemployment rate fell in October for a fourth consecutive month to 5.4%, the lowest since the month the COVID-19 pandemic hit the state, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment reported Friday.

The state’s jobless rate, which comes from a survey of households, had been 5.6% in September and still remains well above levels before the pandemic triggered a statewide stay-at-home order that resulted in widespread job losses in early 2020. The state’s unemployment rate also is significantly higher than the U.S. rate of 4.6% for October and ranked 34th among states, tied with Louisiana, Rhode Island and Texas.

Ryan Gedney, the department’s senior economist, said Colorado’s unemployment rate is higher than the nation’s because a much larger share of the state’s population is either employed or looking for work. That number, called the labor force participation rate, was 68.2% in October – the nation’s fourth highest and well above the nationwide rate of 61.6% for the same month.

The number of people looking for work in Colorado has declined by nearly 48,000 since December, with more than half of the drop coming in the past three months. However, the 171,000 people who are looking for work is still 83,000 more than the total in February 2020.

The jobless rate in the Denver area’s fell to 4.6% from 4.8%, while the Colorado Springs area fell to 4.6% from 4.9% during the same period. Both unemployment rates were the lowest since February 2020. The Boulder area had the lowest jobless rate among the state’s seven metro areas at 3.5% while Pueblo had the highest at 6.8%.

The separate survey of employers showed the state added 10,600 payroll jobs in October and nearly 130,000 so far this year. About half of the state’s payroll employment growth so far this year – 65,400 jobs – has come in the hotel and restaurant industries, which were hit hardest by the pandemic. The arts, entertainment and recreation sector has added 17,100 so far this year, followed by the professional and technical services sector, which has added 15,200 jobs in the first 10 months of the year.

The employer survey showed statewide payrolls at 2.76 million, still 62,700 jobs short of reaching the 2.82 million employed in February 2020, before the pandemic triggered a statewide stay-at-home order that resulted in widespread job losses. Colorado Springs has already reached that milestone with payrolls in October totaling 305,500, or 900 more people than held such jobs in February 2020. The Denver area remains 30,000 jobs below its pre-pandemic payroll level.

“Colorado Springs has been pulling away from the rest of the state in terms of the rate of job growth since early this year,” Gedney said. “I expect that the state and the Denver area, given the current trends, to reach February 2020 payroll employment levels in early 2022.”