Annual Corporate and Consultants Surveys Reflect Continuing Economic Pressures

JERICHO, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Area Development’s 38th Annual Corporate Survey and 20^th Annual Consultants Survey reflect the impact of current economic pressures, including low unemployment numbers, on corporate executives’ site and facility plans across both small and large companies in diverse industries.

Sixty percent of the respondents to our Corporate Survey are with manufacturing firms and are C-suite executives. A third of the respondent companies employ 100–499 people, with a quarter employing 500 or more workers. Sixty percent say their expansion/investment decisions have been greatly or moderately affected by current economic conditions; only about a third of the respondents plan to either expand an existing domestic facility’s footprint or open a new domestic facility in 2024.

Nearly all of those responding to our Consultants Survey are working with manufacturers. Three-fifths work with companies that have 100 to 999 employees, and three quarters also work with companies employing more than 5,000. Some 85 percent say their clients have been greatly or moderately affected by current economic conditions as well as by recent government legislation, e.g., CHIPs and Science Act and IRA.

Labor costs is ranked as the #1 site selection factor by the Corporate Survey respondents, followed by availability of skilled labor, environmental regulations, tax exemptions, ICT/broadband, and right-to-work state. All of the respondents to our Consultants Survey rank availability of skilled labor as their clients’ #1 concern. This factor is followed by three they consider of equal importance to each other: state and local incentives, available land, and a responsive state and local government.

When it comes to the geographic location of new facilities, more than 90 percent of the Consultants Survey respondents say their clients are slating these for the South Atlantic or other Southern states. However, slightly fewer than half of the Corporate Survey respondents say new domestic facilities will go to South Atlantic states and just a quarter report they are considering other Southern states.

A full review of this year’s Corporate and Consultants Surveys can be found in the Q1/2024 issue of Area Development and online at areadevelopment.com/survey.

Area Development is published quarterly and also maintains several highly visited websites, which can be reached at www.areadevelopment.com. It also has produced more than 70 Best Practices Consultants Forums for economic developers since 2006.