8 Worcester Business Journal | December 23, 2024 | wbjournal.com
ECONOMIC FORECAST 2025
WBJ reader survey
In the last few months of 2024, the Federal Reserve
began to lower interest rates, as inflation is getting
close to the Fed's 2% annual inflation rate target.
Higher interest rates this past year have impacted a
number of industries, such as banking and real estate,
but as rates move lower, they are likely to stimulate
economic growth.
No, higher interest rates
have been a positive for us
How will your business be
impacted by lower interest
rates in 2025?
6%
How are you budgeting for your
company's 2025 revenue in
comparison to 2024?
Do you plan to hire additional
staff next year?
0
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
'23 '21 '22 '20 '19 '17 '18 '16 '15 '13 '14 '12
'24
55%
Increase 1-10%
No change
Increase 11-20%
Decrease 1-10%
Decrease 11-20%
Increase more
than 20%
Decrease more
than 20%
55%
15%
14%
9%
4%
2%
1%
Very
positively,
it improves
our outlook.
16%
Somewhat positively
50%
No real
impact
30%
4%
Lower interest rates
will have a negative
impact on our
business
