Williams Releases fourth quarter Economic Indicators Report

DENVER, January 21, 2016 – Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams today released the Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators Report for the fourth quarter of 2015. The fourth quarter saw a modest decline in quarterly new business filings. Existing entity renewals decreased from the previous quarter but increased versus the prior year.

“Despite a slight decline in business registration, our office continues to help Coloradans achieve their dreams,” Secretary Williams said. “For the first time, Colorado exceeded a major milestone, having over 600,000 business entities in good standing.”

In the three-month period ending in December, there were 113,849 business entity renewals, an increase of 5.6 percent since the fourth quarter of 2014. Limited liability companies once again drove year-over-year growth in entities in good standing.

“Based on economic growth in Colorado and the initial filings, we see continued, but slower, employment growth in the state in the first half of 2016,” said economist Richard Wobbekind, executive director of CU-Boulder’s Business Research Division.

During the fourth quarter, a total of 23,306 new businesses filed with the Secretary of State’s office, a decrease from the third quarter of 2015 and a drop of 0.2 percent since the prior year.

Colorado recorded 102,670 new entities during the 12 months ending in December—a 0.5 percent increase over the previous twelve months. The fourth quarter finished with 601,588 total entities in good standing in the business registry, a 5.5 percent increase over the prior year.

Published by the Business Research Division at the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder, the Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators Report uses data from the Secretary of State’s central business registry.

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