Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce reported the results of its annual economic outlook survey which found overall CEOs and business owners were optimistic.
About 76% of the participating CEOs rated their company’s outlook as good to excellent in the next 6 months, 89% rate the next 12 months as good to excellent and 93% rate their outlook as good to excellent in the next 1 to 3 years.
When asked for their forecasts for 2024, 70 percent believe that sales will outperform the previous year’s sales level. Overall, participating firms expect sales gains according to 57 percent of the reporting companies in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous quarter, while 30% anticipate no change. Just more than half (51%) of these companies expect sales increases in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same quarter in 2023, while 23% anticipate no change.
Fifty seven percent of area CEOs expect to hire more people in 2024, while 35% anticipate employment levels to remain the same. Business leaders report that finding qualified workers remains a challenge, with 47 percent indicating they have unfilled job openings. This is down from 55% in 2023, however. These employers further indicated that recruiting qualified job applicants remains a challenge, with 68% indicating 4 or fewer job applicants per job opening and 24% indicating there were no qualified candidates.
Manufacturers plan to increase their raw material inventories in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same quarter one year ago according to 60 percent of Oshkosh-based manufacturers. In the first quarter of 2024, 47 percent of retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers anticipate a higher volume of finished goods inventory over 2023 fourth-quarter levels. These are lead indicators of an expected sales volume increase in the coming months.
The report highlighted some statistics that demonstrated a strong economy for Oshkosh.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (December 2023), the unemployment rate for Oshkosh remains below the national unemployment rate of 3.5 percent at 2.4 percent. Oshkosh-based businesses employ more people than ever. Local companies now employ 41,735 people in Oshkosh, up from 41,411 people last year. In 2023, Oshkosh experienced investment in commercial and industrial property of more than $57.3 million, compared to $44.4 million in 2022, with over $100 million of new development anticipated for 2024.
