2019 Middle Georgia Economic Outlook Survey Results.pdf

The survey gauges business sentiment among a diverse range of Middle Georgia companies.

Key Findings:

Positive Economic Outlook: Businesses in Middle Georgia expressed generally positive views about their performance in 2019 and anticipated even stronger growth in 2020.
Top Obstacles: The primary challenges businesses face are consistently identified as:
Quality and cost of labor
Taxes
Government regulations and red tape
Stronger than Expected Performance:

Net earnings/income exceeded expectations for 2019 (diffusion index 34.69%) and were projected to further improve in 2020 (40.96%).
Sales volume, average selling prices, and number of employees also showed positive trends, both exceeding initial expectations for 2019 and projecting optimism for 2020.
Rising Costs: While sales and profits are increasing, businesses reported higher-than-expected non-labor, non-capital costs in 2019 (diffusion index 15.31%) and anticipate continued upward pressure in 2020 (18.29%).

Other Notable Findings:

Businesses are optimistic about investment in plant and equipment (diffusion index 26.83% for 2020).
Access to financing is perceived as easier than expected (diffusion index 3.7% for 2020).
Past-due accounts payable are lower than anticipated (diffusion index -7.32% for 2020).

Perceived Government Impact:

A majority of businesses citing "government regulations and/or red tape" as a major obstacle specified that their concern related to both state and local levels, indicating widespread frustration with regulatory burdens across different government entities.