College students these days tend to be savvy when it comes to their futures. Many are factoring their employability when deciding upon a major, although a significant number are still “adrift” without a career path, notes The Pueblo Chieftain. And that’s even more worrisome than usual, as the local economy continues to struggle to keep people employed.

University of Colorado economist Richard Wobbekind says the state will lose more jobs than previously anticipated—30,000 this year, which is up from an estimate of 20,250 in June (via The Denver Post and Boulder’s Daily Camera). That would represent a 1.2 percent drop in the number of Coloradans with jobs.

Unfortunately, another economist, Patricia Silverstein of Development Research Partners in Jefferson County, forecasts even more job losses. She predicts the state will lose about 40,000 jobs in 2010. At least, she says, “the employment situation will be improving throughout the last quarter of this year…but it will not be enough to put us into positive territory.”

Still, this year’s numbers are far brighter than last year’s. Both Wobbekind and Silverstein’s predictions for 2010 put the job-loss totals well below 2009’s tally of 106,000.