Short-term growth slowing
DETROIT, Mich., October 15, 2013 – Business Leaders for Michigan (BLM), the state’s business roundtable, continues to forecast that Michigan’s economy will grow faster than the U.S. economy over the next eighteen months. However, business leaders believe both America’s and Michigan’s growth over the next six months will be slower due to lower global demand and domestic financial uncertainty. “Michigan’s business leaders continue to believe that Michigan will out-perform the national economy over the next year and a half by a significant margin,” said Doug Rothwell, BLM President and CEO. “Their more pessimistic short-term outlook reflects continued sluggishness in major export markets and a lack of federal action on interest rate, debt and tax policies. The belief is that over the long-term global growth will return and some federal issues will get resolved. Once those things happen, Michigan will benefit disproportionately because we’re a big export state.” Highlights of the survey of Business Leaders for Michigan include:
- By almost a 2 to 1 margin, BLM members believe Michigan’s economy will perform better than the national economy over the next six months. But stagnant growth in Europe, slower growth in China, and unresolved U.S. fiscal policy has steadily eroded some of that enthusiasm throughout 2013.
- Fifty percent more BLM members believe the state’s economy will perform better than the U.S. economy in the next 18 months. This reflects a growing optimism about the Michigan economy that started in 2011.
- Forty percent of business leaders project that their companies will add jobs in the next six months in Michigan and about a third 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 businessleadersformichigan.com/research-and-reports.
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