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Survey Finds Optimism About Economy Dips in Lee County

A new survey finds optimism about the economy dipped slightly in the third quarter of the year among Lee County business leaders. 

The third quarter Executive Business Climate Index from the Horizon Council and Florida Gulf Coast University’s Regional Economic Research Institute finds optimism about the economy at 62 on a scale from 0 to 100.  That’s down from a score of 69 in the second quarter. “That still indicates that it’s optimistic,” said economist and Director of the Regional Economic Research Institute at FGCU, Gary Jackson.  “Anything over 50 is a positive growth in terms of expansion, but we’d like to see it actually a little bit higher, a little bit more confident.”

The index finds 61 percent of executives participating in the survey expect the economy to improve over the next year with 56 percent expecting improvement in their specific industry. 

Still, uncertainty about the future is keeping local businesses from expanding their workforce.  “We ask questions about employment.  How does the employment situation look and are you going to be hiring into the future?  And quite a few companies are really predicting that they’re not going to be hiring new.  They’re going to keep the employees they have.  And I think that’s a reflection of the uncertainty in the economy,” said Jackson.

The federal healthcare overhaul proves to be a point of concern with 58 percent of executives indicating it would have a moderate to substantial impact on their costs, while 27 percent say they’re unclear on what impact the law will have. 

Jackson says he hopes to expand the scope of the survey beyond Lee County beginning in 2013 to provide a more regional perspective