News

Majority of middle market execs have positive business outlook

October 30, 2014

According to CIT Group’s newly-released and third annual Voice of the Middle Market study, a majority of middle market execs have a positive outlook for their businesses, with 63 percent indicating that their companies are better off today than last year.

Additionally, 62 percent expect the size of their workforce to increase in the coming year.

However, this optimism is tempered by concerns related to continued economic uncertainty, costs associated with Obamacare, regulations and tax increases.

“Our study has found that while middle market executives are upbeat about their own prospects and are looking to grow as a result, they believe it’s important that elected officials bring forth policies that support the middle market,” CIT Sponsor Finance Co-Head Tom Hobbis said in a news release.

Some highlights from the study include:

• Top areas of concern for respondents include: continued economic uncertainty (76 percent); costs associated with complying with the ACA (75 percent); regulations (71 percent) and tax increases (70 percent).
• Tax reform is a top priority for respondents with 84 percent saying they want Congress to take action on this issue.
• Less than half (40 percent) think raising the federal minimum wage should be taken up by the 114th Congress.
• Over half the middle market companies (55 percent) have experienced workforce growth within the past 12 months, while 62 percent say they expect the size of their workforce to increase in the coming year.
•  More than half (58 percent) report that business demand and opportunities will lead to an increase in workforce.
• Fifty-eight percent of respondents expect to enter other regions within the US within the next 12 months, while 62 percent expect to increase their range of products and services in the next 12 months.
• While expressing concern about continued economic uncertainty, executives are gaining confidence in the national and global economies: 27 percent of executives, up from 15 percent in 2013, feel that the US economy is performing strongly, while 14 percent describe the global economy as strong, compared to only 7 percent last year.