Survey: Optimism holds steady for small business CEOs

The WSJ/Vistage Small Business CEO Survey shows that confidence in the economy rose slightly to 99.9 in the April 2016 survey, just above the 98.9 in March. While this was a significant improvement from February’s low of 94.3, it remained well below last April’s 109.2.

The April survey of 609 Vistage members indicates that small business owners expect another profitable year ahead, but have brought their planned investment spending in line with slower rate of economic growth.

Key highlights from small business owners surveyed include:

Hedging Employment Risks: 58% of CEOs plan to increase their number of employees in the next year. 21% of CEOs said they have hired more part–time employees in the past three years, and 29% said they’ve hired more contractors in the past three years.

Investment plans unchanged: 43% of CEOs said they plan to increase their investment spending in the next year.

Revenues and Profits stables: 70% of CEOs expect increased sales revenue in the year ahead, and 56% expect increased profits, holding steady from recent months.

The survey found that small businesses anticipated the pace of economic growth to remain essentially unchanged in the year ahead, but expect continued growth for their own businesses. This does not indicate that small firms hold unrealistic prospects for their own firms but that they are less vulnerable to global and domestic policy uncertainties and more responsive to the relative strength in consumer spending. Overall, the data indicate a continued strong contribution from small firms toward renewed GDP growth.

View the full results,  and see an interactive tool with the results at vistageindex.com.

Analysis provided by Dr. Richard Curtin, University of Michigan

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