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Survey Results Indicate Business Community Feels DFW Economy Consistently Improves

Today, Dallas Regional Chamber announced the cumulative findings of its quarterly Business Perspective Survey, which polled the opinions of members of the Chamber’s Board of Advisors throughout 2012 to learn their perspectives on the strength of the U.S. economy, the DFW-area economy and their own businesses. The survey results show that DFW-area business leaders lost confidence in the U.S. economy as the year progressed but observed continued improvement in the DFW-area economy during the same period.

Key findings from the survey:

• In the Q1 survey, conducted Feb. 10, about 49 percent of those polled believed the U.S. economy would improve in the following six months, and no one polled believed the economy would decline.
• In the Q4 poll conducted on Nov. 16, only 29 percent of those polled believed the U.S. economy would improve during the next six months; however, 76 percent believed the DFW-area economy would improve during the same timeframe.
• In every survey throughout the year, the majority of respondents indicated that their business was improving, despite a lagging U.S. economy.
• About 44 percent of those polled in Q4 believed their companies’ capital spending would increase in the next six months.
• Approximately 39 percent of respondents said that their companies planned to increase employment in the next six months.

”It’s interesting to note that our Board of Advisors indicated that while the area’s greatest economic strength is the low cost of doing business, the primary area that needs improvement is education,” said Jim Oberwetter, President and CEO of the Dallas Regional Chamber. “We know that education a critical component to our continued economic prosperity in DFW, which is why the Chamber is working closely with our public schools, universities and business leaders to create opportunities in the region for the next generation of leaders to learn and grow.”

The Business Perspective Survey was conducted at quarterly luncheons for the Chamber’s Board of Advisors, which includes members from Fortune 500 companies as well as local small businesses. Each quarter, the opinions of approximately 100 of the Chamber’s 190 Board of Advisors members were surveyed. The Board of Advisors program provides Chamber members who invest at least $5,000 in annual dues with an opportunity to participate in key initiatives of the DRC, further engage with the business community through targeted committee involvement and provide feedback and ideas about issues affecting the business community and region at large.

“The results of our first full year of Business Perspective Surveys are insightful,” said Duane Dankesreiter, Vice President of Business Information and Research at the Dallas Regional Chamber. “What we’ve seen reflected in the poll is what we hear anecdotally from our members on a regular basis – that while confidence in the U.S. economy is wavering, the DFW region remains one of the best places in the country to do business.”