Small Business Index declines slightly in March

The Vectra Bank Small Business Index for Colorado declined slightly to 88.7 in March, down from a revised 89.7 in February and another sign Colorado appears to be gradually emerging from recession.

Colorado’s unemployment rate in March remained at 5.5 percent, unchanged from the previous month’s revised rate and below the 5.8 percent of the four prior months. Total Colorado unemployment dropped by 3,200 jobs during the past 12 months, compared to the state’s small increase in the prior year-over-year period.

“All of these numbers remained essentially flat during March, which appears to support our position that Colorado would be coming out…