High unemployment is not a problem in Colorado. And whether or not it’s the burgeoning marijuana industry absorbing the surplus workforce, Colorado’s low unemployment numbers have pushed employers to reconsider screening for marijuana during their pre-employment drug testing process.
It’s a “supply and demand” issue according to Curtis Graves — the information resource manager for Mountain States Employers Council informed Colorado Public Radio that employers are facing a severely restricted labor market.
“We’re finding that for employers, it’s such a tight labor market, that they can’t always afford to have a zero-tolerance approach to somebody’s off-duty marijuana use.”
A “tight market” for sure, Colorado’s current unemployment rate hovers at just 2.2% — currently the lowest in the nation. A chronic problem for employers in the Centennial State, it has caused at least some within Colorado’s construction industry to think outside the proverbial box.
Mr. Bretz is the owner of a roofing business based in Englewood, Colorado. Anxious to harvest a worthy crop of potential employees, Bretz…