A bi-annual survey of small and medium-sized businesses across the state shows signs of optimism and caution.
The PNC Bank Spring 2015 Economic Outlook Survey shows 50 percent of business owners expect to see profits improve in 2015. That’s up from just 37 percent last Spring.
Mekael Teshome is an Economist with PNC.
“And so this is all good news for us in North Carolina. It signals that, at least economically speaking, 2015 is set to be a good year and probably even better than 2014," said Teshome.
But numbers also show most business owners do not plan to hire in the next six months.
Teshome says that is not surprising.
“So I think businesses do feel that things are getting better for them but it’s going to take a lot longer to shake off the effects from the Great Recession, psychologically," said Teshome.
He says hiring may be stalled but raises have increased.
“In our survey we found that 31 percent of our business owners expected to increase their employees’ wages. That’s up from 18 percent in Spring 2014," said Teshome. "That’s a nice jump but it’s still a fairly low number.”
PNC surveyed businesses across the state that make up to $250 million in revenue, annually.