Auckland Business Confidence ‘Goes into Free Fall’

Auckland Business Confidence ‘Goes into Free Fall’

In June 2017 33% of Auckland businesses believed the economy would improve over the next 6 months while just 8% said the economy would deteriorate.

Come forward a year to June 2018 and just 15% of Auckland businesses believe the economy will improve over the next 6 months while 44% say it will deteriorate further.

These are key messages from a regular quarterly survey of over 800 business respondents undertaken electronically by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce last week, of which 97% were small-medium enterprises (SMEs, employing 20 people or less.)

Skill shortages, especially across the SME sector are continuing to worsen. Recent surveys have shown around 45-46% of respondents are having difficulty finding staff with the right skills.

The latest survey conducted electronically over a 48 hour period last week shows the difficulty businesses are having finding employees with the right skills is now up to 50%.

Uncertainty over the direction the Government is taking the economy was the over-riding reason for the sharp reversal of business confidence, said Auckland Business Chamber head Michael Barnett.

This uncertainty is reflected in comments of respondents when asked WHY the change in confidence. Responses included the:

• uncertain union and tax environment
• lack of faster action on infrastructure and housing
• no decisions – just working groups
• lack of confidence in leadership once you get past the top
• increasing costs of fuel
• labour and wage round uncertainty.

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