|
Madison area is feeling the recession, survey says
(Wisconsin State Journal, The Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Dec. 3--If there was a time when the local economy was recession-proof, those days are gone.
The annual First Business Economic Survey of Dane County, to be released this morning, shows the downturn has reached the Madison area. Sales, jobs and profitability all have slid since last year.
In fact, 44 percent of the business leaders responding, the highest level in the six years the study has been conducted, said they didn't meet their projections for the year. Nearly as many, 40 percent, think their companies will fare even worse in 2009, twice the percentage that felt that way about 2008 a year ago.
"That's a meaningful change, in terms of businesses' expectations," said Mark Meloy, president and chief executive of First Business Bank, Madison, which sponsored the survey with the UW-Madison School of Business.
"We've long believed we're absolutely immune from national economic trends ... but we are seeing strains in the local economy that we haven't seen for some time," Meloy said.
Service industry jobs were most vulnerable, as 28 percent of those businesses said they cut employees.
Jeff Jurkens, chief executive and owner of Octopus Car Washes, didn't pare jobs, but he did shave employee hours.
First, came the relentlessly snowy winter; then gas prices soared above $4 a gallon; then the economy worsened. The number of cars washed at the three Octopus locations in Madison is down 5 to 6 percent; two sites in Rockford are off 22 percent from a year ago, Jurkens said.
"We worked very hard to make it up in our ancillary services (such as) express detailing." Still, profits are 20 percent lower than last year, he said.
In manufacturing, 50 percent of respondents reported shrinking profits this year.
"With the cost of all materials and tooling going up, it's eating into profits," said Pamela Treige, president of Knabe Tool Works, 2302 Pennsylvania Ave. "We're afraid to raise the prices. A lot of people are in rougher shape than we are and we don't want to lose the work."
Two of Knabe's 15 employees are on voluntary layoff for two weeks.
Stoughton Trailers consolidated operations, leaving only a handful of workers at its Brodhead factory, and switched from a 40-hour, five-day work week to a 36-hour, four-day week, cutting energy and maintenance costs, Patrice Gillespie, vice president of human resources said.
About half the 488 executives responding to the poll said they expect higher sales and profits in 2009 but only 26 percent said they think they'll add employees. The survey has a margin of error of 5 percentage points.
To see more of The Wisconsin State Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.wisconsinstatejournal.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Wisconsin State Journal
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
INDUSTRIES
Activate Email 
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO East, January 20-22, 2010. Miami, FL.
