In 2007, the tourist economy in Summit County was booming.

Businesses in almost every sector were thriving, posting steady growth every year, according to sales tax data. Incomes were high and unemployment was low.

“In 2006 and 2007 there was this manic euphoria, where people had lost a little bit of touch with reality,” Summit Independent Business Alliance director Corry Mihm said. “The things that were going on didn't make logical sense, so at some point there had to be a correction.”

The correction came in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The bottom fell out of the U.S. economy, and even Summit County couldn't avoid the plunge.

The local unemployment rate jumped from 2.6 percent in December of 2007 to 4.1 percent in December of 2008. Over the next 12 months, ripples of a nationwide financial crisis hit the tourist industry and unemployment in Summit County spiked again in 2009 to 6.3 percent. By 2010, 6.5 percent of the workforce couldn't find a job at the height of the ski season.

Shoulder seasons, predictably, were even worse for the job market. Unemployment in Summit County peaked at 11.9 percent in May of 2011.

For those who did have jobs, earnings froze.

“Wages and salaries stagnated for the last few years,” said Ken Nelson, a Breckenridge business owner and president of the Breckenridge Restaurant Association. “There's a lot of people in the job market, so that pushes wages down. We've had a lot of skilled applicants for the positions that we've had open.”

The average Summit County income dropped from $37,380 in 2008 to $35,298 in 2009.

Even government employees and those working for larger companies weren't safe from the plummeting economy. Towns in Summit County froze staff salaries, restructured and eliminated positions. Summit County government laid off 10 people at the end of 2010, and already-understaffed local post offices downsized as well.

“During the retrenchment, business owners and managers took on more,” Mihm said. “There were fewer jobs available because everyone had to do more with less.”

Hopeful signs

But the second half of 2011 at last brought glimmers of hope.

Summit County unemployment rates, following national trends, began a very slow decline. As the national unemployment rate sunk to 8.5 percent and Colorado's dropped to 7.9, Summit County's unemployment rate dropped to 6 percent in December, the lowest in almost three years.

Salaries and wages began to recover as well, though slowly.

The average Summit County income increased slightly to $36,786 in 2010. Data for 2011 is not yet available.

“There comes a point in time where your business is beginning to demand more of you and you've got to get help,” Mihm said. “That's what has pushed an improvement in the employment market.”

The local job-market recovery seems to have started with hourly employees, Mihm said, because it is easier for companies to scale hourly employee's work hours up and down to meet the needs of the business.

Many companies that had discontinued 401(k) match programs have begun to reinstate them, according to Mihm, another indication of recovery.