MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- After rising for several months there was a bit of a hiccup in the Tennessee Business Barometer this past month.
Middle Tennessee State and the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce conduct the survey of business leaders quarterly.
Respondents continue to be strongly confident in the current state and national economies, but survey director Tim Graeff says confidence in the future business environment was off a bit in July. He says the chaos in Washington seems to be leading businesses to question whether Congress and the President will be able to deliver on campaign promises to enact business friendly reforms.
“I think that they’re noticing that in Congress things are kind of slowing down. So maybe some of the changes with the health care law might not be coming as quickly as they expected.”
Graeff says what hasn’t change are the leading concerns of Tennessee’s business community. Their top two concerns have been the same since the survey was first conducted in 2015.
“They are staffing - finding, hiring, training personnel - and rising health care costs. Those are the top two issues that are foremost on their minds.”
A final interesting finding of this most recent survey: When business leaders were asked what they most wanted to see in new hires, their top response was employees with a “strong work ethic.”
The 2Q-2017 MTSU Business Barometer surveyed 107 business leaders statewide beginning July 10.