Confidence among British Columbia鈥檚 small-and mid-sized business is holding steady at the end of the first quarter of 2011.
The B.C. barometer index rose slightly from its level in February at 70.1 to 71.4 in March. The index was at 71.1 in January indicating little change in the confidence of small business during the first quarter of 2011.
The national average held steady in March at 69.2, virtually unchanged from its February level of 69.4. This continued optimism makes four straight months that the national index has been in the healthy part of the index range (index levels between 65 and 75 indicate a growing economy).
With respect to employment plan in British Columbia, most employers do not plan to make changes to full-time employment levels (63 per cent), while 20 per cent plan to increase full-time employment and 17 per cent plan to decrease.
More highlights include:
路 53 per cent of businesses in B.C. say the overall state of business is satisfactory, 28 per cent say it is good, and 19 per cent say it is bad.
路 Fuel and energy costs have increased over the last month with 63 per cent of business owners saying these costs are causing difficulties for their business. This is up from 55 per cent in February.
路 55 per cent of B.C. small businesses say that insufficient domestic demand is their greatest business constraint, followed by management skills and time constraints (29 per cent).
For more information, visit www.cfib.ca/research/barometer
鈥� Canadian Federation of Independent Business
