MetroWest495 Biz

12 MetroWest495 Biz | August 2014 BUSINESS CLIMATE SURVEY Tim Cummings, executive director of the Marlborough Economic Development Corp. (MEDC), said the Marlborough Hills devel- oper and city officials always envisioned a hotel to complement business activities at the site, a former Hewlett-Packard campus. While demand for lodging every Thursday through Sunday has been historically strong, Cummings said demand for weekday lodging has been growing, too. "Some of the larger employers who have expanded recently have only strengthened the market," Cummings said. This Marlborough triumph speaks to a growing sense of optimism about the economy in MetroWest and along the Interstate 495 belt. That's what was found in the second an- nual Business Climate Survey conducted by MetroWest495 Biz, along with the 495/Me- troWest Partnership and Framingham State University (FSU). But that optimism is tempered, with area employers reporting only modest plans to expand and hire this year. Paul Matthews, executive director of the 495/MetroWest Partnership, said that with the memory of the Great Recession still fresh, employers are proceeding "deliberately." "For a number of years now, we've heard from economists that this recovery is going to be slow but steady, and this (survey) bears that out," Matthews said. WhaT DID The Survey reveal? here are three notable findings: When asked, for instance, how the economy will perform in the coming year, a strong majority — about 69 percent — said it will improve. But most of those respondents — 64 percent — said they only expect slight improvement. Meanwhile, about a quarter of respondents said they expect economic conditions to remain the same this year, and about 6 percent said conditions will worsen. Last year, slightly more respondents — about 75 percent — expected economic improvement. Michael Harrison, an economics professor at Fram- ingham State who compiled the survey data, said instability reflected in key national economic indica- tors, such as gross domestic product (GDP), may be hindering the local outlook. "We still have not seen a strong recovery across the board, and (and we) have been getting mixed results quarter after quarter," Harrison wrote in a statement on the survey results. For example, Har- 1. Two-thirds of business respondents see improvement over the next year Michael harrison: Companies' hiring plans, based on the survey, are "very good news." 48.1% 45% 6.9% Worse Better About the same 64.4% Improve slightly 24.4% Remain the same 4.8% Improve significantly 5.5% Decline slightly 0.8% Decline significantly 31.8% Yes 31.2% Not sure. It is too soon to tell. 32.1% No 4.9% No. We plan to reduce staff. Would you say business conditions in the 495/MetroWest region are better or worse than they were a year ago? Over the course of the coming year, how will the economy in the 495/MetroWest region do? Over the course of the coming year, do you expect to hire additional staff in the 495/ MetroWest region? s page 11

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