Worcester Business Journal Special Editions

Worcester Business Journal • www.wbjournal.com • 2 017 Economic Forecast 5 These assertions about a strong econ- omy this year translated into positive predictions for 2017, as the portion who said the next year's economy was going to see significant gains (12 per- cent) hit double digits for the first time in the five-year history of the survey. People who predicted a significant decline (4 percent) tied for the lowest since 2013. One of the main indicators of this strong economy will be higher housing prices, with 55 percent of WBJ readers expecting an increase. Despite the bold predictions, the sur- vey respondents predicted only a mild positive impact on their business opera- tions with the majority expecting only a small increase in revenues and profits. On the flip side, 21 percent expect no growth or a decline in profits. Perhaps because they expected such small impacts on their businesses from an improved economy, WBJ readers were non-committal when it came to hiring, expansions, raising capital and major investments. • More than 60 percent said they wouldn't raise capital or make a major investment in property, plant or equip- ment, which is in line with the survey results from 2015 when area business leaders were less bullish on the economy. • Nearly half (49 percent) said they were not considering an expansion of product lines, new geographic territo- ries or facilities next year. This group of people actually grew from last year, when 46 percent said they wouldn't consider an expansion. • Only 32 percent had plans on increasing the size of their staffs in 2017 while the rest had no plans or were waiting to make that call until some point next year. This was the lowest percentage of WBJ readers who had plans to hire staff since the survey's first year, when only 31 percent had hiring plans. In conclusion, the 2017 Worcester Business Journal Economic Survey revealed feelings about the economy have remained relatively the same since the rebound from the Great Recession began: Business leaders expect the economy to improve, although the impact on their companies would be limited, leading them to be cautious about new investments in people and equipment. Better economy In WBJ's annual Economic Forecast survey of its readers, the region's business leaders over- whelming said the economy is on the upswing BY BRAD KANE Worcester Business Journal Editor C entral Massachusetts business leaders and entrepreneurs see the future getting brighter. The portion of WBJ readers who said the Central Massachusetts economy was better this year than it was last year hit a three-year high (79 percent) in our annual Economic Forecast survey, while the percentage of readers who said it was worse (5 percent) hit a three-year low. Do you think the Central Massachusetts economy is in better or worse condition today than it was at this time last year? In 2015, the portion of WBJ readers who thought the economy was better was 74 percent while 13 percent said it was worse. In 2014, there were 76 percent who said it was better while 7 percent said it was worse. This year's result showed much higher optimism about the economy and a new low for pessimism. What do you expect housing prices to do in 2017? For 2014, there were 62 percent of WBJ readers who felt local housing prices would increase. In the following two years, that number never got above 50 percent, until this year. How will the economy fare in 2017 compared to 2016? Linda Townsend invested $700,000 of her own money in 2016 and took out a $3.2-million bank loan to open her Release Well-Being Center in Westborough. Yes 79% No 5% Not sure 16% Yes 55% Stay the same 37% 8% Decrease 0 2 4 6 8 10 12% 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Improve significantly Decline significantly 20 30 40 50

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