Pueblo job recruitment group says 500-job goal in 2017
The Pueblo Economic Development Corporation is hoping it will reach the target it fell short of in 2016.
For 2017 the Pueblo Economic Development Corporation’s goal will remain the same as last year: add 500 jobs to Pueblo.
In 2016, the job recruiting organization fell short of their goal. They added 195 jobs to the Pueblo economy, falling short by 305. In other words, PEDCO met 39 percent of their 2016 jobs goal set last January.
PEDCO president Jeff Shaw called the 500 jobs “realistic” last year.
In addition to the goal of adding 500 jobs in 2017, PEDCO hopes to see a 10 percent increase in membership in their business incentives programs.
PULP reported in December 2016 on the four big announcements PEDCO made throughout last year. The Vestas expansion added the most to the final total jobs PEDCO added with, 108 new jobs, and an average salary of $15 to $19 an hour. Coming in right behind that was Coronado Stone Products with 51 jobs. The Big R farm and ranch supply expansion added 33 jobs at an average annual salary of $64,315. And Formulary 55, the second small business to receive a PEDCO gift grant, added three jobs.
The 195 jobs added was down from the previous year. In 2015, PULP reported that PEDCO added 353 jobs. Then, there wasn’t a public goal. PEDCO began announcing its goals in 2016 to achieve a sense of transparency with the community.
PEDCO’s overall mission is to recruit and maintain primary jobs, ones that export 51 percent of their goods or services out of the community in order to bring in new money to strengthen Pueblo’s economy.
The University of Colorado-Boulder’s Leeds School of Business’ annual Colorado Business Economic Outlook for 2017 reported that manufacturing jobs are anticipated to increase statewide by 2,300 jobs, a 1.6 percent growth rate.
If PEDCO does meet its 500-job recruitment goal, that would be near 21 percent of the state’s overall manufacturing growth.
