County indicators strong, but worker shortage still a worry

Boulder County’s leading economic indicator index continued to post strong gains in the third quarter of 1997, the most recent period for which figures are available, although some signs point to an “economic reality check” in the first quarter of 1998.

The “reality check” may be driven by the county’s phenomenonally low unemployment rate of 2.9 percent in the third quarter, said Sandra Julsen, a Boulder Chamber of Commerce employee who helps produce the index, a joint project of the chamber and the University of Colorado business research division.

“The caution about…