Business has been better – and worse – in Rhode Island, leaving most companies waiting for clearer signs on the direction of the state and national economies before making major changes in their own operations.
That’s the biggest takeaway from this week’s cover story on results of PBN’s Summer 2024 Business Survey.
Surviving a multiyear pandemic has many business owners feeling like they have seen the worst, says Edward M. Mazze, a distinguished professor of business administration at the University of Rhode Island. But the pockets of optimism that resiliency has spawned are tempered for others by stubbornly high prices for consumer goods and the political and economic uncertainty that often comes in presidential election years.
Respondents reported stagnant overall business activity, despite year-over-year profits jumping to their highest level since 2022.
That’s left a slight majority expecting their own companies to be doing better a year from now but less sure about the rest of the economy.
Confidence in the state economy over the next year slipped from last quarter, with just 35% expecting improvement. That’s far below a survey high of 76% in 2017.
Though not an economic boom time for most, businesses such as North Kingstown’s Trico Specialty Films Inc. are seeing post-pandemic light.
“Our customers have been placing orders, and our sales pipeline is full,” said Chief Financial Officer Paul Conforti.
For others, the first benchmark interest rate cut in more than four years offers hope of more positive signs to come.