Gessler releases first quarter economic indicators report
Denver, Colorado, April 17, 2014 - Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler today released the Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators Report for the first quarter of 2014 (PDF). The report indicates continued employment expansion in the first half of 2014.
"Coloradans continue to persevere and show their can-do spirit by pursuing the American dream," Secretary Gessler said. "As these business leaders create jobs, hopefully our employment continues to tick upwards."
During the first quarter, a total of 26,522 new businesses filed with the Secretary of State's office- a decrease of 0.1 percent compared to the same time last year.
"The economic metrics are overwhelmingly positive this quarter," said Richard Wobbekind of the Leeds School of Business. "However, given the slight slip in new business filings in Q1, we will be paying close attention to the next quarter’s data to see if a downward trend is emerging."
The quarterly report is based on an analysis that found a strong correlation between new entity filings and total nonfarm employment. Colorado recorded 89,721 new entities during the last 12 months ending in March- a 3.0 percent increase over the previous twelve months. At 118,167 for the first quarter, existing entity renewals were also up 87.3 percent compared to the same period in 2013. The fourth quarter finished with 533,927 total entities in good standing in the business registry, an increase of 5.4 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.