Connecticut residents remain optimistic about the state’s business conditions, but they have concerns about employment opportunities, a new survey found.
Eighty percent of the 505 state residents recently surveyed by InformCT, a nonpartisan research group of the Connecticut Economic Resource Center Inc. (CERC), say the state’s business climate will improve or remain flat in the next six months. InformCT in early November reported that 81 percent of respondents expected the future business climate to improve or stay the same.
Under the latest fourth-quarter survey, 77 percent of respondents say business conditions are better or the same as they were six months ago.
Both confidence levels compare favorably vs. a year ago, when 72 percent of respondents expected a better or flat business environment in the coming six months and 65 percent reported an improved or steady pace in the six months prior.
For two consecutive quarters, at least 30 percent of respondents say they believe business conditions will get better or stay the same, the highest rate in the survey’s four-year history.
While respondents have become less worried about Connecticut’s business and economic climate, concerns persist over employment opportunities in the state.
Eighty percent of fourth-quarter respondents say jobs are very hard to get or that there is some, but not enough jobs compared to six months ago.
That percentage has increased for three consecutive quarters, the survey says.
Twenty-three percent of respondents say Connecticut’s employment situation will improve in the coming six months, representing an increase of 4 percent vs. the same time last year. But 77 percent still say employment opportunities will get worse or stay the same.
That coincides with 35 percent of respondents expressing concern that their job or that of their spouse/partner is in jeopardy, which is the highest percentage of concern in the category in over a year.
Individuals with higher levels of education were more optimistic about the availability of jobs: 29 percent of respondents with less than a high school education say the state’s employment situation will worsen in the next six months vs. 15 percent of those with postgraduate degrees.
Tolland County was the state’s most optimistic county with 40 percent of respondents there expecting the employment situation to be better in the six months ahead.
Nearly 60 percent of respondents say they are “concerned about being able to afford health insurance” and 18 percent reported they are not, the survey found. The percentage of concerned residents is the survey’s lowest in over two years.
InformCT says the results were generated from an online survey it conducted in late November. The survey has a 4 percent margin of error.
