The Results of the latest Chamber Business Performance Survey have been compiled. Below follows the analysis of the findings.
The Survey reveals that economic recovery from the Covid-19 Pandemic continues, with business performance maintaining a positive trend. The economy continues its recovery to Pre-Covid Levels, with some way still to go.
The post pandemic issues of supply side bottlenecks remain evident in continuing price escalation, driven by external factors, compounded by the Ukraine /Russia war.
The Second Quarter of the year April-June 2023 was better than the same period of 2022 with Business Performance indicators generally positive. Sales, Revenue, Workforce Hiring are all reported better than the previous year.
Interestingly, Firms are now reporting that the cost of Labour is now a major factor driving increases alongside the Cost of Goods. This point is reinforced later in the survey when issues related to availability of Human Resources are cited high in the ranking of Major Issues Affecting Business. The perennial issues of Inflation and Crime remain high on that scorecard.
This Survey (Take 9) introduced questions regarding the recently implemented Health & Security Levy, seeking to explore issues of preparedness, and sufficiency of information concerns during implementa6ion. The H&S Levy was not in effect during the review period so no substantive comment can be made on the impact.
Additional for the first-time issues of spatial location was introduced. Hopefully, we will, in future Surveys, be able to examine if any, differential in regional economic performance.
More detailed information by Sector Region and by Size is available to Chamber Members on request.