Performance Plans
Vision
A working economy that elevates all of Colorado.
Mission
Working together to promote a thriving employment environment with opportunity for every Coloradan to prosper.
Summary
The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) is a roughly 1,700-person state agency that oversees seven major divisions and three special initiatives.
CDLE serves Colorado, now more critically than ever, by helping workers and businesses thrive. We help keep our workforce competitive while supporting the business community with resources and information that saves them valuable time and money.
CDLE services and resources support Colorado’s economy in the following ways:
- Building Colorado’s talent pipeline
- Connecting unemployed workers to job opportunities
- Helping businesses recruit employees
- Assisting workers who have been injured on the job
- Ensuring employers across the state are following fair labor practices
- Presenting labor market information providing an up-to-date and accurate picture of the economy
- Contributing to a stable economy through wage-replacement programs including unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation and paid family and medical leave insurance
- Helping people with disabilities obtain, maintain, or regain employment
- Protecting our communities through a variety of consumer protection and safety programs
CDLE Divisions:
Division of Unemployment Insurance: The Unemployment Insurance (UI) Division helps Coloradans who have lost their jobs by providing temporary wage replacement through UI benefits. The provision of UI benefits helps workers pay their bills and contributes to the economic stability of the state. The UI Division strives to provide unemployment insurance benefits in a fair, timely, accurate and efficient manner to the citizens of Colorado. The provision of these benefits helps stabilize the workforce and minimize the impact of unemployment on Colorado’s economy.
Division of Employment & Training: The Division of Employment and Training (E&T) provides a wide range of services for businesses and job seekers. Services are delivered by state and county-run local workforce areas that support strong regional economies. Programs are funded by federal grants, state general funds and cash funds. The division consists of two distinct program areas - Workforce Development Programs and the Colorado Rural Workforce Consortium.
Division of Labor Standards and Statistics: The Division of Labor Standards and Statistics (DLSS) is comprised of two units: Labor Standards and Labor Market Information (LMI). Labor Standards administers Colorado labor laws, and LMI produces, analyzes, and disseminates Colorado labor market statistics.
Division of Oil & Public Safety: The Division of Oil & Public Safety (OPS) is responsible for a variety of regulatory functions related to environmental and consumer protection and public safety. Program oversight includes: amusement rides and devices, explosives use and storage, boilers, conveyances, fuel products, underground and aboveground petroleum storage tanks, cleanup of petroleum spills, and reimbursement of cleanup costs to qualifying storage tank owners/operators. The Division’s oversight also includes the Underground Damage Prevention Safety Commission and Fund, which includes enforcement oversight for Colorado 811.
Division of Workers' Compensation: The Division of Workers Compensation (DOWC) administers and enforces the Workers’ Compensation Act. The Division assures the quick and efficient delivery of disability and medical benefits to injured workers at a reasonable cost to employers, with minimum litigation.
Division of Vocational Rehabilitation: The Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) provides a range of individualized vocational rehabilitation services. These services help eligible individuals with disabilities prepare for, obtain, maintain, regain or advance in competitive integrated employment. Employment is consistent with individuals’ strengths, resources, priorities, concerns, abilities, capabilities, interests and informed choice. Services include education, vocational training, physical or mental restoration, rehabilitation technology, job placement and on-the-job support. DVR also provides pre-employment transition services to students with disabilities in order to prepare them to enter the world of work as they begin their transition from secondary education. The services DVR provides directly to Coloradans with disabilities are supplemented by a statewide employer outreach program focused on developing relationships with businesses to increase employment opportunities for the people DVR serves.
Colorado Workforce Development Council: The Colorado Workforce Development Council (CWDC) is a governor-appointed, business-led public-private coalition leading the integration of efforts to build the Colorado talent pipeline. The Council and the CWDC Office provide recommendations to the Governor on issues related to talent development. The CWDC facilitates collaboration among state agencies and partners to ensure effective and efficient leveraging of resources and reduction of redundancies, including managing the support needed to ensure the success of this collaboration of partners and agencies.
Division of Family Medical Leave Insurance: The Division of Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) was established through a vote of the people in Proposition 118 on the 2020 ballot, and mandates that all employers in the state offer paid Family and Medical Leave, with the exception of local governments who may opt out of the program. Private employers are required to engage with the FAMLI Division either by fully participating in the program or by applying for private plan approval to ensure their employees have access to the same or greater benefits as the FAMLI program.
Office of Just Transition: The Office of Just Transition (OJT) develops, coordinates, and manages programs to assist workers facing the loss of their jobs and communities facing economic disruption resulting from Colorado’s transition away from coal as a fuel for generating electricity and the subsequent closure of power plants, coal mines, and related businesses. OJT accomplishes its tasks primarily by working directly with local communities and individual workers to support community and worker-driven transition strategies, and by coordinating and collaborating with other state agencies responsible for economic and community development, workforce training and development, and related programs.
The Office of the Future of Work: The Office of the Future of Work (OFW) was established in September 2019 through an Executive Order from Governor Polis and codified in March 2023. The OFW was created to raise awareness about the future of work, and to identify policy and program solutions that ensure Coloradans are future-ready. To achieve this purpose, the OFW:
- Conducts new research to understand future of work trends and their impact
- Shares best practices, research, and data to inform new work and legislation
- Leads key initiatives on behalf of the state
Office of New Americans: On June 25, 2021, Governor Jared Polis signed HB 21-1150, creating an Office of New Americans (ONA) in CDLE. ONA’s vision is that all New Americans have equitable access to opportunity and wellbeing, and its mission is to facilitate the integration and inclusion of New Americans into Colorado’s civic, economic and social life.
More details on our programs may be found in our FY 2024-25 Performance Plan.