Published: Jan. 21, 2016 By

Even with a slowdown in new business filings in Colorado during the fourth quarter of 2015, employment in the state is expected to expand over the first and second quarters of 2016, according to a University of Colorado Boulder report released today by Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams.

The quarterly indicators report, prepared by CU-Boulder’s Business Research Division at the Leeds School of Business, uses data from the secretary of state’s business registry to report correlations between the data and economic metrics.

At 23,306, the fourth-quarter new entity filings were down from 25,164 in the third quarter of 2015 and down from 23,360 at the same time in 2014.

A total of 102,670 new entities were recorded during the 12-month period ending in December 2015.

The number of entities in good standing ticked up 5.5 percent year-over-year to a new record of 601,588.

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

Existing entity renewals in the fourth quarter of 2015 totaled 113,849, which is down from 114,677 in the third quarter of 2015, but up 5.6 percent year-over-year. Total existing entity renewals for the year increased to 463,642 for the 12-month period ending in December.

“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.

Visit the secretary of state’s website to view current and past reports or to sign up to receive reports by email.

“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.