The Twin Cities Business’ Quarterly Economic Indicator has showed that national, global, and Minnesota-based business conditions will increase during the first quarter of 2018.
Although Minnesota is included in the indicator’s overall optimism report, the positive feelings don’t stretch as far in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” with only 34 percent of respondents expecting the state to improve. That is still up from last quarter’s average 31 percent.
The positive outlook of business leaders is the highest level of optimism ever seen in the 26 consecutive quarters of the indicator.
Only 10 percent of respondents expect conditions both nationally and internationally to worsen, which is also an all-time low for the survey.
One of the reasons the Minnesota business community may not be as optimistic is the reported difficulty finding qualified talent. Out of the report’s respondents, 59 percent expect finding qualified talent to getting harder. That is the highest percentage since the survey began in 2011. Only less than 2 percent believed that finding qualified workers would become easier.
Respondents were able to add their opinion into the survey. Several felt that Minnesota was without a clear economic vision for the state’s economy, that the national policy from Congress and the Trump administration make up for Gov. Mark Dayton’s weaknesses, and that the rural-urban battle in state legislature could potentially weaken the Twin Cities’ economy.
