The Georgia Chamber of Commerce conducted a survey this March asking current and former members two primary questions: how has the current economic environment impacted your business and what actions can our Chamber take to help your business succeed in the future.
Businesses of all sizes and from throughout the state participated in the on-line survey conducted by Market Catalyst and the results provided interesting insight into our state's business community.
With regard to the impact of the current recession:
Survey participants were provided a list of ten economic conditions and asked them to rank them according to the level of challenge they present. The top five current business challenges reported by businesses large and small were reduction in consumer buying power, tightening of credit markets, overall tax burden, health care costs, and increasing operating/materials costs. Based on responses, the overall tax burden seems to have an even greater impact on businesses with fewer than 20 employees.
Participants were also asked what actions had been taken by their company to adjust labor costs. Freezing or lowering of planned salary increases received the highest number of responses, followed by hiring freezes, a reduction in bonuses, reduction in employees or reduction in hours and planned overtime. Companies with over 300 employees were more likely to have taken any or all of these actions.
Respondents also let the Georgia Chamber know what government actions they believed would provide the greatest relief:
Tax credits for hiring additional workers ranked highest as an incentive that participants believed would have a positive impact. Also highly ranked were additional government investment in education and workforce development, roadway improvements and exempting the sales tax on energy used for manufacturing. Each of these are issues that the Georgia Chamber is currently focused on and will continue to advocate for with elected leaders.
Finally, survey participants provide important input as to what they believedshould be priorities for the Georgia Chamber in its role as the voice of the state's business community:
Participants let us know they hoped the Chamber would focus on reducing taxes and supporting legislation that would help businesses of all sizes. Workforce development, job creation, reduction of government, education, health care, transportation and energy were also identified as key priorities. Each of these was included in our 2009 legislative priorities and will continue to be areas of focus for our policy committees.
The Georgia Chamber will use the information gathered in this survey throughout 2009 to make informed decisions about how we can better serve our membership. To view the full survey report, CLICK HERE.
