Business Owners’ Optimism Grows Slightly, PNC Finds
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Small-business owners in Ohio foresee their sales growing over the next six months and are more optimistic about the economy -- but not enough to add to their workforces.
Business investment plan are stronger with nearly six in 10 survey respondents, or 59%, expecting to make capital investments, up from 53% six months ago. “Technology equipment and other types of business equipment remain business-owners’ top priorities,” The PNC Economic Outlook for spring finds, while computer hardware and software are their top technology spending priorities followed by e-commerce.
The spring survey of the PNC Economic Outlook is the latest semiannual examination of small and mid-sized owners’ sentiments about the outlook for their enterprises and the health of the economy.
More small-business owners than six months ago expect to see an increase in sales this year -- 48% to 45% -- but profits to increase only modestly and 7% fewer expect they’ll hire, the PNC survey found.
PNC engaged the Artemis Strategy Group to conduct a telephone survey between Jan. 21 and March 7 during which its staff interviewed 501 small and midsized companies in the United States, 151 of them in Ohio. Sampling error is +/- 8% at the 95% confidence level.
Other findings of the PNC survey:
- 10% plan to hire full-time employees compared to 17% six months ago and 14% a year ago. Only 6% said they intend to reduce full-time staff. Of those not planning to hire, 31% fault the strength of the economy followed by 27% who say they’re doing more work with fewer employees.
- Confidence in the recovery is muted. Optimism on the national economy grew to 8% from 6% last fall while optimism about the local economies inched upward to 11% from 7%. In Ohio, seven in 10 are at least moderately optimistic about the economy of the Buckeye State over the next six months,
- Owners are more optimistic about the outlook for their companies than the economy as 28% described their prospects favorably compared to 22% last fall.
- Nearly three in 10, or 29%, say they plan to grant their employees pay raises, up 2% from six months ago.
- Interest in borrowing to finance growth is little changed since the last survey. Only 11% say they will seek to take out a new loan or increase their line of credit, or are considering such a step, compared to 14% last fall.
- More than three in five business owners, or 62%, say they will maintain the prices they charge while more than a third, or 34%, plan to raise their prices. Only 4% said they will cut their selling prices. PNC economists say this reflects price inflation looks to remain “under control” through this year although 84% of owners expect consumer prices overall to rise and only 14% expect them to remain flat.
- One-third of business owners expect the price of houses in their markets will continue to rise this year, down from 56% last fall. Only 12% expect to see housing prices in their markets fall.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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