Associated Industries’ Business Confidence Index rose 3.9 points last month, up from 48.3 points to 52.2 points on a scale of 1 to 100 where 50 is considered neutral.
SPRINGFIELD – Employers across Massachusetts gained confidence last month, but the hiring picture still looks lukewarm at best, according to survey results released Tuesday by Associated Industries of Massachusetts, a Boston-based business lobbying group.
Associated Industries’ Business Confidence Index rose 3.9 points in July, from 48.3 points to 52.2 points on a scale of 1 to 100 where 50 is considered neutral. In June, business confidence Business confidence was slightly lower, 50.5 points, a year ago in July 2011.
“I think the overwhelming factor we have to look at is the level of uncertainty,” said Andre Mayer, senior vice president of communications and research at Associated Industries of Massachusetts. “There are good reasons for employers to feel there is a lot of uncertainty.”
Troubles with European debt lead to a sharp fall in confidence in June 2012, Mayer said. Trade with the Eurozone accounts for 2.5 percent of the Massachusetts economy. Massachusetts is second among all U.S. states in terms of European trade behind Delaware.
Associated Industries’ employment index, a measure of hiring sentiment, rose to 53.9 points in July from 49.3 points in June. Twenty-eight percent of respondents reported having added staff in the last six months. compared with 15 percent who reported staff cuts. In the next six months, 22 percent of employers predict adding staff with 11 percent predicting cutbacks. That means somewhat less new hiring predicted but fewer layoffs, Mayer said.
“It’s a hunkering down,” he said. “It is a deteriorating situation for people looking for work,” he said . It’s discouraging not to see more dynamism in the economy.”
Confidence was higher in July among manufacturers at 53.2 points, up 3.6 points from the month before. That’s compared with all other companies at 50.9 points in July, up 4 points. Confidence was lower outside of metropolitan Boston, 51.6 points, up 4.5, than it was in Boston where it was 52.7 points, up 3.8 points.
Mayer received 140 surveys back after sending them out to a sample of 1,000 Associated Industries members. The group has a total membership of about 6,000.