A new survey from Siena College shows that across Upstate New York, the confidence of CEOs is up.
The confidence of those business executives was up nine points for private, for-profit companies, with more optimism than pessimism among the leaders.
Don Levy, the Siena College Research Institute Director, says that part of the reason for the optimism may be because some of the CEOs feel the new administration in Washington will be more pro-business.
But he also notes that a number of the business executives surveyed are still concerned about the current regulatory environment.
“When we ask them about their challenges over 80 percent say that health care costs are something that’s really restricting my profitability, so clearly they’re looking for a repeal and replace of the Affordable Care Act that’s going to control those costs.”
Levy says when you break down the numbers, the Capital Region showed some of the strongest confidence among the upstate business executives, followed by Buffalo and Syracuse. Rochester was virtually unchanged from last year.
Levy does say that CEOs in Rochester do seem to be particularly interested in reaching out to the minority community in terms of employment.
“One thing that they do support is public private partnerships to enhance training and the suitability of minority candidates in terms of their preparedness when they come to market. So I think some of the anti-poverty initiatives that have been taking place in Rochester have percolated to the CEOs and they support those ideas.”
Heather Briccetti, is president of The Business Council of New York State. In terms of her members, she does generally see more optimism, but says CEOs still have issues with how state government handles a number of issues important to business.
“Optimism is up but I think one of the notable is that optimism and the ability of the federal government to solve problems is up, but state and local remains very low. “
Briccetti says she is encouraged that there is more discussion in state government about doing something regarding reforming the workers compensation system.
