In a recent survey, MMAC found quarterly sales and profit expectations among Milwaukee businesses are relatively low while their employment outlook is “a bit more robust.”
That’s according to Bret Mayborne, economic research director for the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce.
“These results suggest slower local economic growth in the near-term and a possible recession in the year’s second half,” he said in a release.
The group’s latest online Business Outlook Survey included 82 Milwaukee-area companies that collectively employ more than 15,000 workers. Sixty percent of those businesses expect sales to rise in the second quarter compared to the prior year, while 19 percent predict sales to decline and 21 percent expect no change.
Businesses’ sales outlook has been slipping since the third quarter of 2021 and “is at the low end of optimism expressed for growth periods,” the release shows.
Meanwhile, 49 percent of surveyed businesses expect second quarter profits to rise over the year. That’s down from the 52 percent that expected higher profits in the first quarter of this year, and continues a trend of year-over-year profit outlook declines in six of the past seven quarterly surveys, the release shows. And 22 percent of respondents expect profits to decline in the second quarter while 29 percent expect profits to stay flat.
Despite those “tepid” expectations, Milwaukee businesses are relatively optimistic about adding jobs in the second quarter. Fifty percent of respondents expect to add jobs year-over-year and 14 percent expect job declines.
Still, job growth so far this year is “off to a slow start,” rising just 0.2 percent year-over-year in the first quarter. That’s compared to the 1.4 percent growth seen in the fourth quarter of last year, according to MMAC.
See more results in the release:
See a recent story on national economic outlook: https://www.wisbusiness.com/2023/experts-agree-recession-likely-later-this-year/
