Fifty-four percent of Upstate New York CEOs say business conditions have worsened over the last year and only 19 percent, down from 36 percent a year ago, expect improvement in the coming year according to the 16th annual Upstate New York Business Leader Survey from Siena College Research Institute (SCRI), sponsored by the Business Council of New York State, Inc and released March 10.
Only 23 percent of CEOs say the economy has improved this year and 54 percent up from 41 percent last year see worsening conditions in the next year, according to the survey. Thirty-eight percent, (down from 47 percent last year), predict increasing revenues in 2023 while 26 percent, (down from 34 percent), anticipate growing profits in the year ahead.
Still, unchanged from last year, over half, 55 percent, intend to invest in fixed assets in 2023. Eighty-five percent say inflation is having a negative impact on profitability.
One-third of CEOs, down from 44 percent last year, plan to increase the size of their workforce this year, but 82 percent say that there is not an ample supply of appropriately trained local workers. Seventy-five percent are having difficulty recruiting for their open positions despite 72 percent offering increased wages and 53 percent being flexible with work hours.
By 61-5 percent CEOs believe increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour Upstate would have a negative rather than positive impact on the economy and they oppose the increase by 59-31 percent.
“It’s impossible to sugarcoat the findings of this survey. CEO confidence is down dramatically from a year ago once again reaching the low point we saw in 2020 and greater now only than during the Great Recession of 2008,” said Siena College Research Institute Director Don Levy. “Only about 1 in 5 CEOs now say conditions have been and will continue to improve while about half say the opposite—conditions have and will continue to worsen.”
“Our index of business leader sentiment, a measure that considers both the current and future views of CEOs is down to 68.8 from 94.4 last year and about equal to 68.7 recorded in 2020 during the raging pandemic,” said Levy. “Two disturbing insights from these numbers. First, a score of 100 indicates equal levels of optimism and pessimism, we’ve got a long way to go, and secondly, in 2020, the current component was the problem as CEOs then predicted a better future, now both the current and future measures are over 30 points below 100.”