Business Confidence Slips In Sept.
Massachusetts employers, wary of slowing growth and a weak economic recovery, lost confidence in September for the fourth time in five months, according to the Associated Industries of Massachusetts.
AIM's business confidence index fell eight-tenths of a point to 48.4. A score of 50 on the 100-point scale is considered neutral.
However, the index is up eight-tenths of a percent year-over-year and up six points compared to two years ago.
Most of AIM's sub-indices - which measure sentiment about current conditions, future conditions, employment and other factors - also declined in September compared with August.
Expectations for the next six months are for more of the same, rather than further deterioration. Employers in the state don't seem to expect the country to slip back into recession, though.
Business owners continued to be more confident about economic conditions within Massachusetts than nationwide. The state's index has been above the U.S. index for 43 of the past 44 months.
AIM's company index, which measures business leaders' confidence in their own operations, fell 1.4 points in September to 53.5, showing that owners were more confident in their own companies than about general business conditions.
Medium-sized and smaller employers were more concerned about the future than their larger counterparts were.
AIM President Richard Lord said that smaller employers lack the depth of resources of larger companies and find themselves under increasing pressure as they endure a long wait for economic recovery.
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