The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) released yesterday its business barometer for February 2011.
It indicated that confidence among British Columbia’s small and mid-sized business owners was stable in February. The B.C. barometer index dropped slightly from its level in January of 71.1 to 70.0 in February. The index was at 67.5 in December and 68.1 in November.
The national average was up slightly this month, to 69.4 from its January level of 68.9. This makes three straight months that the national index has been in the healthy part of the index range – index levels between 65 and 75 indicate a growing economy.
With respect to employment plans in British Columbia, most employers do not plan to make changes to their full-time employment levels of 72%, while 14% plan to increase full-time employment and 14% plan to decrease.
When asked what the main constraints to their businesses were, 55% of respondents cited insufficient domestic demand followed by management skills and time constraints at 38%.
Tax and regulatory costs continue to be the most significant cost pressure in B.C., with 65% of business owners saying these costs are causing difficulties for their business. Fifty-five percent said their concerns were also derived from rising fuel and energy costs
Overall, 54% of businesses in B.C. say the overall state of business is satisfactory, 29% say it is good and 17% say it is bad.