Business confidence hits all-time low: Ontario Economic Report

A new report says business confidence has hit a low that we have never seen before in Ontario. Local business owners say inflation is one of the biggest factors contributing to it.

“Sometimes I price a job and I look at it and I think, ‘that can’t be right,’ but then I run the numbers again and think, ‘that’s more than it should be,'” Owner of Ivy League Electric, Tyler Otterspoor, says working with numbers has been alarming.

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Ontario Chamber of Commerce’s 7th annual Ontario Economic Report says businesses are feeling doubt about the current economic climate. Contributing factors highlighted by the report include labour shortages and inflation.

Although businesses are facing these challenges, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce says there is reason to be hopeful, “we are going to see both a population growth and a labour pool growth, and that is going to give our business some of the staff that they require to achieve their objectives.”

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Although confidence in the economy is low, the report says 53 per cent of businesses are optimistic about the future.