(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A forum on Wednesday, Nov. 5 in Colorado Springs brought together leaders in government and businesses to help prepare for the economic and policy landscape in 2026.

FOX21’s economic expert Tatiana Bailey was one of the speakers at the event at the Garden of the Gods Resort and Club. Bailey said she believes some of the biggest challenges will be the quickly growing retirement population’s impact on the workforce. She cites a labor market that will need to fill roughly 90,000 positions in our state per year, as the Baby Boomer generation continues to retire.

El Paso County will be up to 167,000 seniors by 2050, compared to about 32,000 seniors in 1990.

“So what can Colorado and the U.S. do? We’re going to have to invest in higher return on investment initiatives like child care, subsidies for lower and middle income families,” said Bailey. “We need the workers. Plain and simple. If you increase the labor participation rate by even 1%, that increase tax base pays for the subsidies. And then so it’s relatively straightforward.”

Bailey also said Colorado has a huge comparative advantage in being the second-most educated state in the nation. She said data shows the higher the educational level people have, the more likely they are to work, and its why our labor participation rate is higher in the state than other parts of the U.S. She added that more educated people also make more money.