A survey of Madison-area businesses found 82% of respondents expect higher revenues next year, though talent shortages and higher operating costs remain top challenges.
The Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce recently released the results of an online survey conducted Sept. 26-Oct. 9 as part of the Next Normal, or N2 initiative. It was created in partnership with a number of other economic development groups and businesses, and got responses from 261 businesses, 82% of which are headquartered in Dane County.
Speaking last week during an online briefing on survey results, Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce Vice President Kevin Little said top industries represented include construction and the trades, food and beverage and business and professional services.
He described a generally positive outlook on the current business climate, with 92% of respondents rating the quality of local talent as average or above, and the same percentage rating the business climate as average or better.
Meanwhile, 85% of respondents didn’t have any negative workforce changes, and 71% either had no change to revenue or increased it on a year-to-date basis.
“Looking ahead to next year, the optimism only grows,” Little said, noting 94% of respondents either expect no change to their workforce in 2025, plan to hire more people, or want to do so but are challenged by talent shortages.
“We’re really going to start to dig into a lot of the crosstabs, so that we can pull this apart even more to see if we can assess how this impacts different business sizes, geographies, where jobs are going,” he said. “I’m really hopeful that it can lead to some helpful recommendations for our partners, particularly in government, as they think about zoning and land use decisions and how we grow.”
When asked about top barriers to business success, respondents pointed to: access to talent, 49%; increased operating costs, 47%; interest rates, 35%; and health care costs, 29%. The chamber notes availability and affordability of workforce housing is a growing barrier with 26%.
Respondents said the toughest positions to fill include: customer service, 25%; skilled trades, 25%; sales and marketing, 23%; management, 18%; and hospitality, 12%.
Jason Valerius, executive director of the Capital Area Regional Planning Commission, says “one of the few surprises” to come out of the survey was related to office space needs.
Fifty-seven percent of respondents have no remote workers, compared to 66% in a previous survey from 2021. And 4% are fully remote, compared to 8% in the prior survey. The chamber says these trends are expected to continue next year, as 57% of respondents intend to have no remote workforce, and just 3% being fully remote.
“We have a lot of uncertainty around what’s happening with the need for office space and office development in the region, and wouldn’t have been surprised to see people saying that they’re looking to maybe consolidate office space a little bit, because of the way that people are working remotely or hybrid schedules,” he said during last week’s briefing. “And I don’t think we really saw that. I think there’s companies either holding steady or looking to grow their office space needs.”
Watch the video and see the full survey results.
See a recent story on economic trends for Madison.
