(The Center Square) – Is the economy forcing small businesses in Colorado to lay off workers? It depends on who you ask. 

One report from Alignable says 21 percent of small businesses in the state are laying off workers. That's an increase of 7 percent from November. Colorado is also among the states with the highest number of small businesses implementing hiring freezes (79 percent), according to the report, which conducted a poll of over 6,900 small business owners across the country.

“[Small businesses] are saying they cannot afford to hire full time, permanent staffers now given inflation, reduced revenues, higher labor costs, and fears of a recession,” Alignable said in a news release. 

Only Illinois (82 percent) and Michigan (80 percent) ranked higher than Colorado when it comes to hiring freezes.

However, one small business group reports seeing different trends in Colorado.

Tony Gagliardi, Colorado state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, told The Center Square that he's "not hearing from [NFIB] members that they’re laying off people."

“In fact, in our latest Small Business Economic Trends release, over 46 percent are still looking for employees,” he said.

NFIB's national jobs report from last month also found that 18 percent of members plan on adding more jobs in the next three months.