In an article by Jared Shelly on bizjournals.com, some quotes were shared from Labor Secretary Thomas Perez’s recent visit to Philadelphia. All in all, they paint an optimistic picture for the future growth of the economy, as well as some insights for small business owners looking to add longer term strategy into the preparations of their business plans for 2015.
Some stats on the economy from Secretary Perez:
- The economy is improving, albeit slowly, with 57 consecutive months of job growth and last month the third best out of all of them. While growth statistics may be skewed by larger corporations and tech startups, small business confidence readings continue to show a desire for growth and belief in a stronger recovery to come.
- Whether or not all small business owners are for wage increases, Perez reports “upward pressure”, in particular where top level talent is concerned, although debates related to minimum wage increases are listed by Perez among “unfinished business” of the recession.
- Job competition is easing, with a current 1.9 applicants per job compared to 7 during the darkest parts of the recession.
- Perez predicts a tightening of the labor market influenced by the creation of more “high paying jobs” of the white collar, business and professional services variety. By this logic, he predicts that wages will continue to rise as well as other positive indicators which will continue to strengthen the economy’s rise out of the recession.
Business owners should stay on top of news from Washington pertaining to wages, regulation and must-pass bills. The most recent government shutdown caused by partisan gridlock over budgeting effected many small businesses, in particular those who rely on government contracts for a large part of their total business. The threat of another shutdown, coupled with the potential for regulations related to insurance, immigration and the minimum wage means that no matter how small business owners feel about the direction of the economy, they owe it to themselves to follow the news and stay informed of developments in Washington that have the potential to influence the direction of the economy.
Photo Credit to ThatMakesThree on Flickr
