business backgrounder | economy
Wrong Way Washington
AWB member survey reveals deep pessimism
about where the state is headed
Jason Hagey
Concerns about government regulation, rising health
care costs and high business taxes are among the reasons why employers say the state has gotten off track.
“Many businesses, even if they are doing
better than they were a few years ago,
are still hunkered down and operating in
something of a survival mode.”
Washington state is on the wrong track.
That’s the opinion of more than three-quarters of AWB
members who took part in a survey this winter asking for
their opinions on a variety of issues related to the economy, business climate and state government.
It’s a troublesome finding, to be sure, but perhaps even
more worrisome is that
more than half of the
survey respondents don’t
see things improving in
the next 12 months.
Government regulation, high business taxes
and the condition of the
economy were the top
t h re e c o n c e r n s c i t e d
when respondents were
asked an open- ended
question about the most
at a glance
important issues facing
their business.
When asked to select
their top concerns from
a list of six options, government regulation was once again
No. 1, followed by a lack of customers or clients and the
cost of health care.
There was no consensus regarding the top issue, however; government regulation received the most votes with
25 percent, followed closely by a lack of customers (24
percent) and health care costs (21 percent).
The online survey was conducted between Dec. 19 and
Jan. 6 by Moore Information, Inc. A total of 787 members
completed all or most of the questions in the survey.
The results illustrate the fragile state of the economy,
despite some recent glimmers of hope. “Although we have
seen some positive economic signs, it is clear based on this
survey that Washington has a long way to go before its economy is truly thri