Colorado projecting further employment growth

100-bills-money (2)Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler released the Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators Report for the third quarter of 2013 (PDF). Based on increased business filings, the report again projects sustained near-term employment growth. The increase in new business filings suggest Colorado will set a new employment peak in the last quarter of 2013 and the first quarter of 2014.

“Business filing numbers again indicate good news for our economy in the coming months,” Secretary Gessler said. “A record number of new businesses were formed during the third quarter of the year—this should mean more jobs are coming.”

During the third quarter, new business filings increased by 6.6 percent compared to the same time last year.

“Fundamentally, we are seeing the Colorado economy outperform the nation, and in many regards, Colorado is also outperforming the region,” said Leeds School of Business economist, Richard Wobbekind.

The quarterly report is based on an analysis that found a strong correlation between new entity filings and total nonfarm employment. New entity filings increased 6.6 percent in the third quarter compared to the previous year, with a total of 20,654 filings. At 101,471 for the quarter, existing entity renewals are also up 4.4 percent compared to the prior year. The third quarter finished with 520,312 total entities in good standing in the business registry, an increase of nearly 8 percent over the previous year.

The Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators report is published by the Business Research Division at the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder, using data from the Secretary of State’s central business registry. Following the close of the quarter, the data are analyzed and the report prepared over the next month. The report is then released on the second Wednesday of the following month. The report covering fourth quarter 2013 will be released on February 12, 2014, representing filing data from October through December.