Central Massachusetts business leaders generally feel good about the economy, although they don’t feel great about it.
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Central Massachusetts business leaders generally feel good about the economy, although they don’t feel great about it. The doom and gloom of the post-2020 economic outlook finally gave way last year when WBJ’s readership had strong feelings of optimism about the region’s economy. They still have those optimistic feelings this year, just not quite as strong.
In WBJ’s annual Economic Forecast survey of its readership, this year 57% of respondents felt the region’s economy would improve significantly or slightly next year. That’s not quite as high as last year’s survey results (64%), but it is the second highest in the four years since 2020. Additionally, more than half of WBJ readers this year (52%) said the economy is in a better place than it was a year ago, which is the third-highest level in the last five years.
One noticeable spike in business leaders’ pessimism was over the high cost of operating in Massachusetts, which 41% said is the biggest impediment to business growth in the state. Looking ahead to next year, 49% said President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs would have a net negative impact on their business, versus 16% who felt the tariffs would be a net positive.
Still, 55% of respondents said they plan to hire additional staff next year, which is only the fourth time since 2013 a majority of readers said they plan to do so. Concerns over the quality of the workforce appear to be dissipating, too, as 36% said they were very concerned about their ability to find workers with the right skills for job openings, which is the lowest that number has been since 2020.
With such a complex economy full of businesses of varying size and quality, no one business leader feels exactly the same as another. However, the collective feeling among the Central Massachusetts business community is the outlook is good, mostly.
Brad Kane is the editor of the Worcester Business Journal.
