The second economic trends survey of 2019 reports on member experiences during April, May and June. Q2 included a focus on Budget 2020 with survey responses on business priorities forming an intrinsic part in developing our Cork Chamber budgetary submission.
BUDGET 2020
With the Climate Action Plan 2019 just recently published, Government has made significant commitments to decreasing our collective national carbon footprint.
“Budget 2020 must have a strong focus on sustainability, climate action and decarbonisation.
52% of responding businesses support prioritisation of funding for public and sustainable transport, 23% for tax incentives for electric cars, with 12% indicating support for the carbon tax with other responses indicating the necessity for a combination of measures as the most appropriate approach to meeting national carbon reduction targets."
There is a marked decrease in business confidence to 88%, compared with 96% in Q1 2019.
“While we see hugely exciting growth happening across the City and Metropolitan area, with new developments taking shape and in planning, there are also palpable concerns amongst the business community. Ongoing Brexit uncertainties and the frustrations around housing and accommodation supply both feature as the top ranking threats to business growth. The business community needs certainty for planning, decision making and investment. We need an accelerated pace of activity and a policy framework to support certainty.”
In Q2 50% indicated an increase in employee numbers, compared to the 39% reported for Q1 2019.
58% of respondents have vacancies advertised with 43% indicating that the vacancy has remained unfilled for greater than 3 months since the initial advertisement.
This is an increase on the 34% reporting hard to fill vacancies in the Q1 survey. These vacancies lie across a variety of sectors and specialisations, predominantly engineering.
2. Availability of housing/rental accommodation for employees 3. Skills availability/managing cashflow
“Brexit remains the top ranking threat to business growth across the region. We see that access to affordable accommodation and talent attraction are now registering in the top 3 threats.”