The latest NSW Business Chamber survey of more than 1,000 respondents across the state shows that businesses remain confident about their prospects for the future.

The most recent Business Conditions survey, for the first quarter of this calendar year, painted a positive picture for businesses across New South Wales, with more than 83% of organisations expecting the performance of the state economy to improve or at least remain the same.

Hunter Business Chamber CEO, Bob Hawes said that observations here in the Hunter for local businesses are similar.

“We saw a similar proportion of businesses here in the Hunter expecting the economy to improve or at least remain the same. More than 63% of the businesses surveyed here said they hired new staff between January and March,” Bob said.

Although confidence remains strong, businesses are focused on reducing costs.

“Almost half of businesses here said they experienced an increase in the cost of doing business in the past three months, and more expect costs to increase or remain the same in the near future.

“A majority of these businesses want to focus their cost reduction priorities on inefficiencies and unproductive work. These findings are similar in other parts of New South Wales.

“This should serve as a reminder that there is work to be done in continually pushing the envelope in making New South Wales the most competitive place to do business. One way to do this would be increase the payroll tax threshold to $1 million.

“The upcoming Budget on 20 June will provide a further opportunity for the NSW Government to embrace the NSW Business Chamber’s positive agenda outlined in the organisation’s pre-NSW Budget submission.”

The NSW Business Chamber with the support of Hunter Business Chamber conducts regular quarterly surveys on business conditions locally to support NSW Business Chamber’s interaction with government on behalf of the business community.

IMAGE | Hunter businesses remain confident about their prospects for the future.