The unemployment rate in the Colorado Springs area jumped for a fifth consecutive month in July to 9.7 percent, the highest rate in 18 months, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.

The July rate is the first to include any impact from the Waldo Canyon fire; the 9.5 percent jobless rate in June was based on a survey completed before the blaze began June 23. The fire destroyed hundreds of homes in the Mountain Shadows neighborhood of Colorado Springs and dealt a hefty blow to the Pikes Peak region’s tourism industry. The area’s unemployment rate was 9.3 percent in July 2011. The July 2012 rate was just 0.2 percentage points below the record 9.9 percent reached in October 2010.

The Colorado Springs economy seems to be “toying” with a recession, said Tom Binnings, a senior partner of Summit Economics, a Colorado Springs economic research and consulting firm.

“The local economy is weakening,” Binnings said. “I anticipate continued weakness this year and a significant hit next year” if automatic cuts take effect in January under deficit reduction legislation passed by Congress last year.

Local payroll numbers for July also reflected a weak job market, declining for a second consecutive month by 0.9 percent from a year ago to 247,100 – the lowest monthly total this year. The construction and retailing industries both lost more than 1,000 jobs compared with a year earlier; the financial services industry was the only sector to add more than 100 jobs during the same period.

The payroll numbers come from a survey of employers, while the unemployment rate is calculated from a survey of households. Both numbers are adjusted for seasonal changes.

The local unemployment rate remains well above the state and national jobless rates, both at 8.3 percent in July. Unemployment rates also increased last month in Boulder, Greeley and Pueblo and remained unchanged in Denver, Fort Collins and Grand Junction. The Springs was among just 52 U.S. metropolitan areas reporting a higher unemployment rate in July; rates declined in more than 80 percent of the nation’s 372 metro areas during the same period.

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