Colorado business filings remain strong in third quarter

DENVER —  New Colorado business filings continued to post year-over-year growth in the third quarter, raising future employment expectations for the end of the year, according to a University of Colorado Boulder report released Friday by the Colorado Secretary of State’s office.

The report looks at a metrics such as new business filings, business renewals, construction and the unemployment rate, both in Colorado and nationally. The report was prepared by the Business Research Division at the Leeds School of Business using data from the Secretary of State’s business registry.

A total of 28,372 new business filings were recorded in the state during the third quarter, an increase of 5.1 percent compared with the same period last year. The increase bodes well for continued job growth through the rest of 2017, but that growth is expected to slow in the first quarter of 2018.

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“In the short term, Colorado is positioned very well with employment levels projected to increase over the next six months,” Wayne Williams, Colorado’s Secretary of State, said in a prepared statement. “Our economy remains fundamentally strong.”

Existing business entity renewals increased to 127,228 during the quarter while entities in good standing reached 656,144, an increase of 5.9 percent year-over-year and a record for Colorado.

“While Colorado employment growth will continue to be positive and stronger than the nation, growth in 2018 will be more subdued than in 2017,” said Richard Wobbekind, executive director of the Business Research Division. “The low unemployment rate, coupled with slow growth in the prime working-age population, will constrain potential growth.”

Residential construction is also expected to have a strong finish for the year. As of August, residential building permits for 2017 increased 19.6 percent year-over-year with increases in both single-family and multi-family permits.

Overall, the report finds Colorado to be in fundamentally sound economic health. GDP, employment and wages all increased year-over-year while jobless claims decreased. The state’s unemployment rate remains historically low at just 2.4 percent, far below the national rate of 4.2 percent for the period.

To read the full report, visit the Secretary of State’s website.