The Greenville Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural Upstate Business Confidence Index survey has yielded an unsurprising snapshot of how area businesses feel about the economic outlook for this year – “unsettled, uncertain and uneven.”
This outlook was among the takeaways of the chamber’s annual Accelerate shareholders meeting April 2.
By the numbers
Given the profound economic turmoil in recent weeks in the U.S. and global economies stemming largely from the imposition of trade tariffs, the survey of businesses both large and small in the Upstate confirmed business confidence in the economy is slumping.
The survey numbers were not all universally bad, according to Hank Hyatt, the chamber’s vice president for economic competitiveness, who presented the findings.
About 34% of businesses expect economic conditions to worsen, while a slightly larger 38% expect improvement.
The survey revealed very small businesses with 10 or fewer employees expect greater negative impacts and thus report higher levels of economic anxiety. The picture is slightly better with larger employers having 200 or more employees reporting somewhat more optimism.
Further distinctions were revealed when broken down by business sector type. Among the sectors reporting slightly more optimistic outlooks were:
- Real estate
- Insurance and finance
- Construction
- Accommodations and food services
Among the sectors reporting slightly more pessimistic outlooks were:
- Manufacturing
- Health care and social assistance
- Information, professional, scientific and technical services
- Other services
Among the barriers to business growth and expansion, respondents cited inflation and higher costs related to labor, financing and supply chains, along with challenges in the availability and cost of real estate.
Hyatt said the bright spot in the survey is a higher level of confidence among businesses in the economic health of the Upstate.
This is especially true when looking longer term with 92% of respondents reporting they expect to be in operation here in five years while 67% said they expect to be larger than they are now.
Chamber president and CEO Carlos Phillips said the data produced by the survey will be shared with local and state elected leaders, among others, to help inform policy decisions.
