Chamber of Commerce – Quarterly Canterbury Business Survey – July 2022

The Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce has today released its’ findings from the Quarterly Canterbury Business Survey.

“The regional economy will deteriorate further before it gets better – that is the message we are hearing from our business community,” says Leeann Watson, Chief Executive of Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce.

“Half of businesses within the Canterbury region expect economic conditions to worsen in a years’ time, compared to today. That is not an insignificant number.

“Despite the economic pessimism, businesses are still willing to continue investing in new equipment and new personnel with sixty percent stating they will do so within the next year.

“The constrained labour market and access to workers from overseas continues to be the biggest barrier to business. Seventy-five percent of businesses find it more difficult to acquire new staff than this time last year. Fifty percent find it more difficult to retain staff.

“Labour market challenges are causing significant consequences for business. Forty percent have turned down business opportunities as a result, fifty-three percent report workload increasing for current staff, and forty-eight percent report this is having a negative impact on staff wellbeing.

“Eight in ten businesses do not support the Government’s COVID-19 policy to require self-isolation of household contacts, if they are not sick, which is having a significant impact on productivity in an already constrained labour market .”