June 2005

Businesses Anticipate Improvement in Local Economic Performance over the next six months

According to the June 2005 Business Outlook Survey a net 17 percent of respondents expect general business conditions to get better over the next six months. This represents a slight increase from 13 percent in the March 2005 survey. With regard to own activity, the net percent of reporting firms expecting to increase activity in the next six months was 34 percent. The more favorable outlook about general business conditions was most evident among health care, personal services, and communication and information firms.

The June 2005 survey indicated that about 51 percent of reporting firms experienced higher sales and about 23 percent experienced lower sales in the past six months compared to sales in the third and fourth quarters of 2004. In addition, the past six months witnessed an increase in the percentage of firms indicating increased employee compensation from 54 percent to 64 percent between the March 2005 and June 2005 surveys.

Summary of Returns
June 2005

Survey Responses
Disaggregated by Sector/Activity

 
Summary:

Results from the June 2005 survey indicate an upturn in expectations about general business conditions in the local economy after five consecutive instances of declining sentiment that began with the March 2004 survey. Over the past four years survey respondents have identified the following important challenges to their activities: health care expenses for employees, availability of employees, competition from other businesses, and quality of labor. In the most recent survey, three of the four have been identified as the most pressing problems. Consistently, over the past year, firms are more optimistic about their own prospects compared to what they think will be happening to the overall economy. The most recent survey found that 30 percent of reporting firms felt that future business conditions are likely to improve while 41 percent expect an expansion in activity level during the next six months.