DETROIT, Mich., April 23, 2014 – Business Leaders for Michigan (BLM), the state’s business roundtable, projects that the Michigan and U.S. economies will grow in the next 6 and 18 months and expects Michigan’s economy to continue to outperform the U.S. economy.
“The good news from this survey is that Michigan’s largest employers continue to be much more optimistic about Michigan’s short- and long-term economic prospects than they were a couple of years ago,” said Doug Rothwell, President and CEO. “Job providers continue to be bullish on the state’s economic prospects and are backing it up with increased hiring and investment. More than half of Business Leaders for Michigan companies are forecasting increased investment in Michigan over the next six months.”
Highlights of the survey of Business Leaders for Michigan include:
- Fifty-four percent of business leaders believe Michigan’s economy will grow while only 34% forecast the U.S. economy will grow the next six months. None believe the economy will get worse over the next six months.
- Optimism continues to be high for Michigan’s economy in the long-term, outpacing optimism for the national economy with 71% of Michigan’s business leaders believing the state’s economy will grow compared to only 46% of business leaders forecasting the U.S. economy will grow in the next 18 months.
- Fifty-four percent of business leaders project that their companies will add jobs in the next six months in Michigan and over a half believe they will make capital investments in Michigan.
The results reflect a survey of Business Leaders for Michigan’s 80 executives, the state’s largest private sector job providers that represent nearly one-quarter of the state’s economy.
Quarterly Economic Outlook Reports are available at here.
###