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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, March 1, 2003

Business confidence shaky in local survey

By John Duchemin
Advertiser Staff Writer

Business confidence continued to be shaky in early 2003, a survey found, as worries over terrorism, the prospect of war and an incomplete recovery from 9/11 weighed on Hawai'i executives' outlooks.

The Business Banking Council's survey of Hawai'i executives' sentiments found that most saw themselves still in recovery mode from the economic slowdown since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and somewhat cautious about the future.

The January survey of top managers and owners of 400 companies found that optimism was virtually unchanged from the last survey conducted in second-quarter 2002, conducted in the midst of the post-Sept. 11 tourism slowdown. While some reported higher revenues, most executives indicated they have rehired few of the thousands of workers who lost their jobs after Sept. 11.

"This is not a growth situation," said Barbara Ankersmit, president of QMark Research & Polling, which performed the survey for the council. "This is a recovery situation, not one where people are getting ahead."

According to the survey, which had a margin of error of 5 percentage points, 47 percent of businesses reported increased revenues over the past year. But only 17 percent reported increasing the size of their workforce, while 24 percent reported a smaller workforce. The rest kept the same number of employees.

And only 29 percent expect the economic situation to improve in the coming year, while 12 percent said it would get worse. The remaining 56 percent said the economic outlook will be unchanged.

The Business Banking Council has conducted its surveys about twice a year since 1998.