Colorado’s long streak of job growth has given the state a new claim to fame: third-lowest unemployment rate in the U.S.

In March, the state added 5,500 nonfarm payroll jobs and its unemployment rate ticked down by 0.1 percentage points to 2.9 percent, according to preliminary labor data released Friday by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

The unemployment rate is at its lowest level since February 2001, when a 2.8 percent jobless rate was reported.

And it’s the third-lowest jobless rate in the nation, behind South Dakota’s 2.5 percent rate and New Hampshire’s 2.6 percent rate.

“And their economies are considerably smaller than ours,” said Alexandra Hall, the state’s chief economist. Colorado’s labor force is about 2 million larger than that in each of those states.

In February, Colorado tied for the fourth-lowest unemployment rate in the nation.

The national jobless rate in March increased by one-tenth of a percentage point to 5 percent.

Considering the continued influx of new residents, Colorado’s 53 consecutive months of job growth “speaks a lot to our economy,” Hall said.

“It has been a while since we have had this kind of payroll jobs growth streak in Colorado,” Hall said.

From September 1991 to June 1996, Colorado recorded 58 consecutive months job growth. Despite a negative over-the-month change at that time, the employment growth remained strong through the end of the 1990s, Hall said.

Colorado’s non-farm payroll jobs are up 71,000 positions from this time last year, according to the state’s latest monthly labor estimates. Last year in March, Colorado’s unemployment rate was 4 percent.

Average hourly earnings for private non-farm payrolls increased to $27.35 in March from $26.81 a year ago.

The monthly reports are based on results from two surveys: a business and public agency survey that measures jobs by work site, and a survey that measures people employed and unemployed by household.

Over the year, construction is up by 10,900 payroll jobs, leisure and hospitality by 24,200, and educational and health services by 11,000 jobs.

Mining and logging, which includes oil and gas activities, is down by 6,800 payroll jobs from March 2015, according to seasonally adjusted data.

Energy’s decline have weakened the economy in areas like Grand Junction and Greeley, Hall said.

Alicia Wallace: 303-954-1939, awallace@denverpost.com or @aliciawallace