Business confidence across Western Australia has surged, fuelled by a moderation in the primary barriers to business growth – rising operating costs and labour shortages – which have eased to their lowest levels in three years. As a result, both short- and long-term business confidence indexes have climbed to their highest in over three years.
The rising cost of doing business has remained the most widespread barrier to business growth, as it has for the past two years, reported by two thirds (68%) of WA businesses in the March quarter. Encouragingly, the downward trend observed over the past year and a half has continued.
While tightness in WA’s labour market persists, businesses have reported an easing in hiring conditions over the quarter, further supporting confidence levels. The March quarter marked the lowest proportion of businesses reporting difficulties in filling positions since we began asking this in June 2021. Similarly, labour shortages as a barrier to growth have once again eased to be on par with its lowest level in the last four years.
These positive shifts are also reflected in CCIWA’s Employment Index, Production Index and Profitability Index, all of which have seen notable increases.
In this edition of CCIWA’s Business Confidence Survey, we asked WA businesses about the importance of gas to their operations and the extent to which labour shortages continue to weigh on businesses.
