Statistics Jersey has published its latest Business Tendency Survey (BTS).
For this quarterly roundup of information about the island’s economy, chief executives and managing directors are asked for their opinions on the status 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 moderately negative, at -21 percentage points. This means the proportion of businesses that reported a decrease was 21pp higher than those that reported an increase.
• The business activity indicator was moderately negative for the finance sector (-12pp) and strongly negative for the non-finance sector (-25pp).
• The business activity indicator for finance was significantly lower than in December, and there was essentially no change for the all sector and non-finance indicators.
Current indicators
• Four of the eight current indicators were significantly negative, and none were significantly positive.
• The overall picture was slightly more positive than last quarter – two current indicators increased significantly and one (input costs) decreased significantly.
Current situation: Covid-19
• The turnover indicator was moderately negative at -21pp.
• The actively working indicator was moderately negative at -13pp.
• In the past three months, 60% of businesses had taken some additional workforce measures in response to Covid-19.
Outlook for next quarter (three months to June 2021)
• The outlook for future business activity was moderately positive (+20pp) overall – the indicator balance was essentially the same for finance (+19pp) and non-finance (+20pp).
• The overall future employment outlook was moderately positive (+23pp) – the indicator was strongly positive (+34pp) for finance and moderately positive for non-finance (+18pp).