BOULDER -Boulder County's unemployment rate is lower than the state's, and it's dropping more quickly, according to Phyllis Resnick, an economic forecasting consultant for Vectra Bank Colorado.

Boulder County's unemployment rate was slightly less than 6 percent in November 2012, according to preliminary statistics; Colorado's unemployment rate was slightly less than 8 percent, Resnick said. Resnick spoke at a Vectra Bank economic forecast breakfast Friday morning at the St Julien Hotel & Spa in Boulder.

In addition, Boulder County wages and salaries are at the same levels they were before the national "Great Recession" that started in 2008, Resnick said.

Health care and social assistance, government jobs and finance and insurance jobs led the economic recovery in Boulder County from 2008 to 2011, Resnick said. By 2014, Colorado is expected to recover all of the jobs it lost during the recession, she said.

Nationally, investment opportunities are growing, although there's still volatility in the economy, said George Fieger, chief executive at Contango Capital Advisors, who also spoke at the event.