DENVER -- Colorado's unemployment rate jumped to 6.1 percent in December, the highest in more than five years, as the state slipped into the nationwide recession, labor officials said Tuesday.

"There's just no money moving through the economy right now," said Alexandra Hall, chief economist at the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

Colorado's economy entered into a recession during the fourth quarter of last year on the heels of the global banking meltdown, she said.

The December unemployment rate was three-tenths of a percentage point higher than November's and 2.1 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

The Labor Department said the number of unemployed Coloradans rose by 7,800 to 167,600 in December, while the number of Coloradans with jobs fell 5,900 to 2.6 million.

About 47,000 Coloradans have lost their jobs in the past 12 months, the Labor Department said.

December's unemployment rate is the state's worst since August 2003.

Edward Aguilar, 52, is one of those unfortunate individuals. He was a shift supervisor, laid off when the company he worked for decided to cut its overnight shift all together.

Aguilar is currently on unemployment, a program he is grateful for. "It's not even 50-percent of what I used to make, but at least it pays for the bills."

The Colorado Dept. of Labor and Employment said less than 50-percent is about average. The average Coloradan on unemployment makes about $340/week right now.

Katelyn Sellers is in the process of applying for unemployment.

"My advice for anyone filing is to go the online route because that's the quickest way to get through," said Sellers. "I never thought I would be the one to be affected by a recession, but my number came up," said Sellers who is trying to remain optimistic through it all.

Sellers makes her office a different coffee shop every day. "I let myself cry or do whatever I needed to on the drive home, and then I said, 'As soon as you get out of the car, you need to get out there because you're never going to find job opportunities sitting on the couch,'" said Sellers.

The professional, scientific and technical services sector suffered the most job losses, said Hall. She attributed that to cutbacks in the number of temporary employees that businesses rely on for accounting and secretarial services.

"These jobs are always the first to go during a recession," Hall said.

Not surprisingly, Colorado saw gains in the leisure and hospitality industry with the start of the ski season.

More than 61,000 Coloradans filed initial jobless claims in the last quarter of 2008, compared with the 56,000 who filed initial claims in the three months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

But Colorado is in better shape than many states. The national unemployment rate was 7.2 percent in December, the highest in almost 16 years.

Michigan and Rhode Island both reported unemployment rates of 10 percent or more in December.

"We're still in a much better position than many states to handle this," Hall said. "If there was fat to be cut, it was cut as a result of the 2001 recession."

Colorado's diverse economy and research and development in such areas as green technology will continue to attract venture capitalists, with the prospect of employing more Coloradans, she said.

"Charles Schwab just announced last week that they were adding 500 jobs in Douglas County," Hall said.

State labor officials hired 50 more representatives to staff the unemployment call center and authorized overtime for employees at the center after the financial sector started to collapse in September.

"It's a daily and continuous re-evaluation to eliminate the strain on the system," said Cher Roybal Haavind, director of government, policy and public relations.

The department wants to extend weekday hours and add Saturday hours at the unemployment center but Haavind says that depends on funding.

"We're hoping some relief will come with the federal stimulus package," Haavind said.

Economists hope the stimulus package will do more than help out unemployment call centers.

"The hope is that this economic stimulus package will pull us out of the recession by the end of 2009," Hall said.

Employment usually lags but typically starts to grow three to six months after the country begins to see growth in its gross domestic product, she said.

If you are applying for unemployment benefits, officials said the best time to call is later in the week or apply online. The Department of Labor is hiring 30 additional employees to handle the increased call volume.

The latest unemployment report came on the same day American Greetings Corp. announced it is closing two stores in the metro Denver area. The stores are in the Tabor Center on the 16th Street Mall and on Alameda Avenue in Lakewood. Employees were told of the closure plans earlier this month.

American Greetings Corp. is also cutting about 200 jobs at the headquarters and three plants as the company adjusts for weaker sales in the ailing economy.

Aguilar's even back in school, studying to become an IT tech. His schooling is being paid for by the Douglas/Arapahoe Co. Workforce Center. "They make you sign contract as long as you have a C+ average. It is a great program," said Aguilar.

He said he is trying to set a good example for his two children in college. "They know if I can do it, they can do it too."

"It's a time to reinvent yourself, rebrand yourself," said Sellers. "Find qualities in yourself in order to rise above the others in the same situation."