Nearly half of Connecticut’s businesses are holding steady despite the uncertainty of the state’s budget impasse and challenging workforce issues, according to the latest Connecticut Business & Industry Association/Blum Shapiro survey.
About 49 percent of 440 business executives responding to the CBIA survey are holding steady, meaning they aren’t growing or contracting, compared to 51 percent in 2016, while 36 percent are growing (unchanged from last year) and 16 percent are contracting (up 3 percent from last year), the report shows.
But 80 percent say factors driving losses include high taxes, regulations and mandates.
The state is 10 weeks past the deadline for adopting a biennial budget.
CBIA released the survey Friday at its Connecticut Economy conference in Hartford. Business executives weighed in on near-term outlooks, export activities, workforce trends, technology investments and legislative priorities of the state’s business community.
The survey presents a mixed picture of profitability combined with the struggle to recruit and retain qualified workers.
Sixty-five percent of companies expect profits this year (compared with 66 percent last year), 24 percent say they will break even (vs. 17 percent in 2016), and 11 percent forecast losses (vs. 17 percent in 2016).
Increased customer sales (58 percent), tax incentives and lower business costs (27 percent), and investments in workforce talent (15 percent) are the biggest profit-driving factors, the survey found.
Other factors driving losses include decreased sales and customer losses (13 percent), and retiring workers and difficulty finding qualified workers (7 percent).
The majority of businesses (61 percent) anticipate up to 15 percent of their workforce will retire in the next two to five years, so recruitment is a concern, the survey shows.
“The results of this survey are strongly aligned with CBIA’s call to action at the State Capitol: build the confidence, momentum, and investment needed to expand the economy,” said Brian Flaherty, CBIA’s senior vice president of public policy.
Asked about their support for additional state employee retirement system reforms that go beyond the union concessions deal narrowly approved by the legislature in July, 91 percent of executives said they support eliminating the use of overtime in pension calculations and 88 percent back implementing a defined contribution plan for all new state employees.
