Statistics Jersey has published the latest results from the Business Tendency Survey, the quarterly survey that provides qualitative information about the island’s economy.
Chief executives and managing directors are asked for their opinions on the current state of their business compared with three months earlier and their expectations for the next three months.
Business activity indicator
• The headline all-sector business activity indicator was neutral, at +9 percentage points (pp) – this means the proportion of businesses that reported an increase was 9 pp higher than those that reported a decrease.
• The business activity indicator was moderately positive for the finance sector (+13pp) and was neutral for the non-finance sector (+7pp).
• The business activity indicator for finance was strongly below its June 2021 balance – there was a moderate decrease for the all-sector indicator, and there was essentially no change for non finance.
Current indicators
• Three of the eight current indicators were moderately positive, one was moderately negative (profitability), and one indicator was extremely negative (input costs).
• The overall picture was slightly more negative than last quarter; two current indicators decreased moderately, and one indicator (capacity utilisation) increased moderately.
Current situation: Covid-19
• The turnover indicator was neutral at +7pp.
• The actively working indicator was neutral at -4pp.
• In the past three months, 45% of businesses had taken some additional workforce measures in response to Covid-19.
Outlook for next quarter – three months to December 2021
• The outlook for future business activity was moderately positive (+10pp) overall.
• The indicator balance was strongly positive for finance (+29pp) and neutral non finance (+2pp).
• Due to a technical fault, the future employment question was not asked of the finance sector, so responses were only collected for the non-finance sector.
• The non-finance future employment outlook was strongly positive (+29pp).
To read the full report click here