In December, University of Colorado at Boulder economist Richard Wobbekind predicted net jobs in Colorado would drop by about 3,200 for the year. Now, Wobbekind says the state will net a loss of more than six times that number (20,250 jobs) after a sluggish first six months in 2010 (via the Denver Business Journal).

Jobs in manufacturing, construction, and the information sectors have continued to disappear, despite some growth in professional services, leisure and hospitality, health, and education jobs. Still, Wobbekind’s revision of non-farm job losses is an indication that private employers are uncertain about expansion.

“I think we had hoped or believed that the stimulus would generate more jobs and that the private sector would get more engaged,”he  tells The Denver Post.

The decrease is still much lower than the more than 100,000 jobs lost last year.