Business Confidence Levels Remain Positive

Business confidence across Townsville remains positive with the release of PVW Partners quarterly Business Confidence Survey, despite a slight dip in the index from 9 to 7 for this upcoming December 2021 quarter.

Carl Valentine, PVW Partners Managing Partner said, “that while there has been a small decline, we are still in a positive, highly confident business environment”.

Commencing in September 1991, PVW Partners Townsville Business Confidence Survey has now been running for over 30 years and is a unique measure of the levels of confidence of Townsville’s business leaders”.

The last quarter of 2021 provides an opportunity to reflect on the 2021 year for our business community.

“When looking at the average result of the quarterly surveys conducted in each year, 2021 recorded the highest level of business confidence in Townsville since 2007, with 2007 being the highest year for confidence in the 30 years of the surveys’ history. This sustained level of positive business sentiment in 2021, despite all of the challenges we are dealing with, gives our economy an incredible strong base for the future”.

“We should still be encouraged by the positivity still shown by local business both small and large. Large businesses are not slowing down, they seem to be having a better capacity to respond and adjust to change quickly more so than before. In fact throughout 2021 larger business respondents indicated they would not be cutting back at all on employment levels, capital expenditure, staff training and entertainment expenditure. It certainly appears that our larger businesses are gearing up for a bigger and better future in North Queensland, with their small business counterparts not too far behind them”.

“While COVID related lockdowns and border closures continue and labour market and materials shortages become increasingly acute in some sectors, Townsville is in good solid position economically. If we reflect on the past 12 months many businesses have invested in their people and their business assets for future growth. This is reflected in the Survey results with over 84% businesses expecting to maintain or increase sales into the December quarter.

This survey also asked for Townsville’s business owners and managers to share their views on the COVID-19 vaccination and whether in the first instance should employers have the ability to make the vaccination compulsory for their employees and secondly whether they would make it compulsory for their employees if they could.

53.2% of respondents indicated that employers should have the ability to make the COVID-19 vaccination compulsory for their employees, with 25.8% neither agreeing or disagreeing and 21% completely disagreeing.

When asked if a business would make it compulsory for its employees to be vaccinated if it could, 59.7% agreed and 40.3% disagreed.

“While we expect that many business leaders would appreciate their employees being vaccinated against COVID-19, there is mixed support for employer’s being able to make it compulsory and many business leaders would be reluctant to make it compulsory in their workplace even if they could. High vaccination rates are now key in seeing Queensland borders opening up for both domestics and international visitors (and of course from a personal wellness perspective as we begin to live with COVID-19) and many business owners will be looking to their employees to vaccinate without it being an employed related obligation”.

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