2012 Thunder Bay Business Opinion Survey Suggests Optimism
Facebook Twitter
Article Archive

image 

2012 Thunder Bay Business

2012 Thunder Bay Business Opinion Survey Suggests Optimism

 

Executive Summary

 

Completion of the “2012 Thunder Bay Business Opinion Survey” marks the fifteenth year since the inception of the survey, which gives a voice to the small business community of the region. The Thunder Bay Business Opinion Survey provides third parties with an in-depth analysis of the thoughts of small businesses. The findings of the survey include both quantitative and qualitative aspects, and also examine the recent and future environmental conditions that small businesses operate under. Every effort was made to ensure that the statistics and data represented the population and that all bias was eliminated. The survey presented findings in several key areas that should be noted:

1. Hiring expectations for the next 12 months have decreased in comparison to last year’s results, with 49% of firms planning to hire additional employees, down from 51% in 2011. 51% of firms are not planning to hire additional employees, and 0% of firms are planning to lay off employees. The employment trends in the last five years indicate that the number of firms planning to expand is increasing. It is important to note that firms currently have an average of 6 full time workers and 4 part timers.

2. 74% of respondents feel that economic growth in Thunder Bay is positive. There has been a significant trend in the past four years indicating that small business owners are more confident that the economy is on its track to recovery. In 2009 only 28% of respondents had optimistic thoughts in regards to economic growth, and over the past three years it has continually increased to its peak percentage of 74% in the current year.

3. The belief that the mining industry is having a positive impact on Thunder Bay’s economy has remained consistently strong over the past three years. Thunder Bay’s small business owners gave mining a score of 3.85 out of 5, ranking it as the most important industry sector. Mining is also ranked very high in regards to its importance to the future of Thunder Bay, while respondents feel that forestry is not important to the future of our economy. The OLG Casino has a steady score of 2.45, indicating that business owners still have negative thoughts towards the impact of the casino. The score of the waterfront development has increased significantly since last year, from 2.99 to 3.55, indicating that small business owners are gaining faith in the benefits of this process.

4. Small business owners showed a significant increase in their feelings towards future security. In 2011, 83% of small businesses possessed a feeling of security, while the 2012 survey saw that number increase to 85%. This increase shows a strong positive trend since 2005. This should be monitored closely in the future to determine what affect the current conditions are having on small businesses.

5. Respondents’ perceptions in regards to the City of Thunder Bay meeting their needs are not positive. Almost every factor that was questioned has dropped from last year’s results, all the results are below the midpoint of three. This indicates that the City of Thunder Bay is not meeting the needs of Thunder Bay’s small business owners.

6. Small business owners seem to have a reached a common opinion that raising taxes in the short- term to eliminate the deficits at a faster pace is not a good idea. 69% of respondents feel negatively about this idea, which is following a trend in comparison with the previous year’s results.  However, this is a significant drop from the 87% in 2011.

 

Royden Potvin, Manager Thunder Bay Ventures

“ When we ask small business about their future business prospects they come back positive. It is good news, hiring expectation are there. This is a very good indicator of how people are feeling about their business.”   “ We have businesses generally under 30 employees, not franchises or big box stores. We want to get to the owner of the business that lives in town. Thunder Bay has an aging population in this city that is reflected in the age of our respondents to the survey.”   “ We could see a dip in the economy but I think it may be more because of the government cut backs. Our real dip was when the forestry downturn occurred. The waterfront is a positive now because they see action and people coming down to the waterfront.” “ In the mining area many of the investments are still developing.”



Click here to view the printer friendly version.
SledNews Snowmobile News
Golfing News
North Superior Publishing
Scott Sumner