Business confidence in Newfoundland and Labrador is down for the fourth straight month, according to a monthly survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
The Newfoundland and Labrador branch of the federation released its January “Business Barometer” today, a 100-point scale that measures whether businesses expect their performance to be stronger or weaker in the coming year. The higher the score is above 50, the higher the level of confidence among survey businesses. Conversely, a score under 50 means that more businesses think they will be worse off in the coming year than think they will have better years.
The province’s January score is 57.4, down 2.5 points from its December score of 59,8, and belowe the national average of 65.2.
Still 62 per cent of business owners in Newfoundland and Labrador say the current state of their business is good, 28 per cent say it is satisfactory, and 10 per cent say it’s bad.
The survey also asks businesses what their main operating challenges and cost pressures are. In Newfoundland and Labrador, businesses say their main operating challenge is a shortage of skilled labour, and the costs of fuel/energy and wages are the main cost pressures.
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