Close to a quarter of the 176 business leaders who responded to a new CBIA/Farmington Bank survey expect their company’s outlook to worsen and almost as many are preparing for workforce reductions.
That’s just part of an otherwise fairly stable outlook provided from the 2016 CBIA/Farmington Bank 3rd Quarter Economic and Credit Availability Survey, released Wednesday.
Last quarter, 17 percent expected their company’s outlook to worsen and 15 percent were preparing to reduce staffing, the report said, as opposed to 24 percent and 23 percent respectively in the third quarter.
At the same time, half of the survey respondents expect stable economic conditions for their firms over the short term, the survey found.
Still, the vast majority of business leaders who answered the survey say they expect conditions to either improve (26 percent, down from 35 percent last quarter) or stay the same (59 percent, up from 53 percent last quarter).
The survey was sent to about 1,800 business leaders.
“While the probability of a recession is likely low, it’s important to note that more companies are preparing for a reduction in staffing,” said CBIA economist Pete Gioia. “As the economy struggles to regain jobs, it’s always important to ask why companies are losing them, and right now, we don’t know.”
DataCore Partners’ economist Don Klepper-Smith noted: “We are clearly seeing starting to see cracks in our economic recovery, but recession is not a foregone conclusion.”
John Patrick, Jr., chairman, president, and CEO of Farmington Bank, said that according to the survey and the Farmington Bank Credit Availability Index, credit conditions remain favorable for growth.
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