Mass. business confidence high in December

(Foto: Courtesy of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts) Confidence among Massachusetts business owners ended last year on an upswing.

Write a Comment

Confidence among Massachusetts business owners ended last year on an upswing, to a level not seen since 2007, according to the Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM).

AIM's monthly Business Confidence Index recorded a 57.3 on a 100-point scale (50 is neutral). This marks a 0.6 point increase from November and 7.1 points above the December 2013 reading, according to AIM.

“This is the Index’s highest reading since July 2007, before the Great Recession, and it concludes the best quarter since that period,” Raymond G. Torto, chair of AIM's Board of Economic Advisors (BEA), said in a statement.

There’s plenty to be confident about, according to Torto, including declining unemployment, strong job creation nationally and in Massachusetts, and a strong stock market.

“Despite significant areas of weakness in the global economy, Massachusetts employers have ample cause to be optimistic,” he said.

AIM's U.S. Index of business conditions rose 0.4 points in December to 50.1, while the Massachusetts Index of conditions rose one point to 56.1.

“Respondents with 100 or fewer employees still tend to rate national conditions negatively, while larger firms are on the positive side. Compared to last December, the state indicator was up 9.1 points while its national counterpart gained 5.3 points,” BEA member Paul Bolger said in the AIM statement.