The doom and gloom reports on the Eurozone are not killing
business confidence in Coventry and Warwickshire - but firms remain
cautious about the future.
They are the findings from the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber
of Commerce's latest Quarterly Economic Survey (QES), which acts as
a barometer for the local economy. The figures are also fed into a
national survey by the British Chambers of Commerce.
In the latest QES for the third quarter of 2011, 68 per cent of
manufacturers in Coventry and Warwickshire said they expected
turnover to rise in the next 12 months but only 46 per cent of
companies in the service sector thought it would go up.
That's a slight improvement on quarter two from manufacturers
and slight decrease in the service sector.
In terms of new jobs, 39 per cent of manufacturers said their
workforce levels had increased in the past three months and 33 per
cent said they would be taking on more people in the next quarter.
More than half said their staffing levels would remain the
same.
In the service sector, 26 per cent said their staffing levels
had grown while 18 per cent said they would be increasing their
workforce in the next three months. Tellingly, 71 per cent said
there would be no change to staffing numbers.
Louise Bennett, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire
Chamber of Commerce, said businesses in the region were 'getting on
with the job' but could understand that there was still an air of
caution.
She said: "There are daily updates on the Eurozone and that has
caused huge fluctuations in the markets.
"Confidence among businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire has,
however, remained similar over the past six months showing that
while we are all affected by what is happening businesses just want
to get on with the job.
"Naturally, we want to see as many companies as possible taking
on new staff and growing in all areas - and the Chamber is here to
help members trade locally, regionally, nationally and
internationally.
"But we still need to see the Government doing more to free
business to grow. Despite countless promises on red tape, we are
still seeing an increase to employment legislation which stands in
the way of companies employing people.
"The survey bears out what we see and hear at our meetings
around the region - that business are not being swallowed up by
much of the doom and gloom but they are still very cautious about
the future.
"Therefore, there does not seem to be huge prospects for
businesses massively increasing staffing levels but, equally, very
few are looking to shed jobs either."