Nebraska business owners and executives tell a University of Nebraska survey they’re optimistic about the next few months.
Bureau of Business Research Director Eric Thompson with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln reports on the latest survey of business attitudes about the next six months.
“Nebraska businesses have positive expectations for sales, but they continue to have very strong expectations for adding employment,” Thompson tells Nebraska Radio Network affiliate KLIN. “This suggests that this will be a good year in terms of job growth in Nebraska.”
One in five respondents to the March Survey of Nebraska Business expects to add employees over the next six months. Only four percent expect to cut jobs.
Half the respondents expect steady sales growth. Only 22% expect sales to go down. The sales outlook improved from the results in January and February.
The surveys are sent each month to 500 randomly selected Nebraska businesses. In March, 145 businesses responded.
One segment of the economy is holding Nebraska back: agriculture.
Crop prices have declined, according to Thompson, hurting farmers financially as well as the businesses which rely on farm sales. The slump is evident in the survey results.
“The larger cities, especially the Omaha area, but also Lincoln, there’s relatively positive outlook and in the more rural areas of the state, businesses have more moderate expectations,” according to Thompson.
For more on the survey, click here.
Jane Monnich, KLIN, contributed to this report.