Economic Survey
10 Hartford Business Journal • decemBer 26, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com
BOOK OF LISTS & ECONOMIC FORECAST 2016-2017
H
artford Business Journal readers are slightly more
optimistic about 2017 than they were about 2016,
but a majority still believe Connecticut's economy
will stagnate or even decline next year.
About 36.4 percent of readers expect Connecticut's
economy to grow slightly or significantly in 2017, while
63.5 percent expect no growth or declining conditions in
the state. Meantime, 32.3 percent of readers said they plan
to hire staff in 2017, while only 16 percent expect to raise
capital. Those were some of the major findings in Hartford
Business Journal's 2017 economic outlook survey, which
are featured in the next few pages.
The survey was emailed to more than 11,000 HBJ Today
subscribers. The unscientific results were gathered over a
three-week period in November and garnered 316 respon-
dents. The survey provides a window into how the region's
economy will likely perform in 2017, and the results actu-
ally closely mirror many of the economic forecasts pro-
vided by economists and business executives featured in
this publication.
Here are the full survey results:
Improve significantly
Improve slightly
Remain the same
Decline slightly
Decline significantly
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
How will Connecticut's economy fare in 2017 compared to 2016?
Do you think Greater Hartford's
economy is in better or worse condition
today than it was at this time last year?
By what percentage do you expect your
employee base to grow in 2017?
Do you plan to hire additional staff in 2017?
Do you have plans to expand in 2017?
6.9%
29.2%
27.4%
34.0%
2.5%
Not sure
21.2%
Better
23.1%
Worse
55.7%
Too soon
to tell/
I don't know
21.5%
Yes
32.3%
No
46.2%
1.
2.
4.
3.
5.
No
54.7%
Yes, with new
product lines
13%
Yes, with a
combination of
some or all
of the above
17.4%
Yes, with
expansion into
new geographic
territories
11.1%
Yes, with
new or
expanded
facilities
3.8%
5.5% to 10%
8.3%
No growth
46.2%
0.1% to 5%
36.6%
Negative growth
6.4%
10.5% or more
2.5%
SURVEY
