The results for this quarter’s Georgia CEO survey suggest Georgia business leaders are still optimistic about current business conditions but are considerably less optimistic than they were in the first quarter’s survey results.

The purpose of the surveys is to better understand how general business conditions are impacting Georgia CEO subscribers on a quarterly basis. Georgia CEO partners with the Bureau of Business Research and Economic Development (BBRED), a member of the College of Business at Georgia Southern University, to prepare, distribute and analyze the survey.

Last quarter’s excitement has turned into constrained optimism for this quarter as shifting business conditions indicate that persistent economic and business concerns have resurfaced as top of mind concerns for participants.

When asked directly for their outlook on Georgia business conditions, 56 percent of respondents noted that business conditions are getting better. This is in line with the January survey results where 59 percent noted similar feelings. Driving these perceptions were positive views on volume of business, such as project requests and foot traffic, and sales, such as ideal flows. Both of these factors had about half of all participants noting a positive outlook for growth within these categories. Participants also noted that the cost of labor, supply issues and competition remain as issues that are not constraining general business conditions.

A convenience sampling technique was used for this study, and the questionnaire was emailed to subscribers of one of the nine Georgia CEO daily newsletters. Georgia CEO publishes a newsletter in Albany, Athens, Augusta, Columbus, Middle Georgia, Newnan, Savannah and Valdosta. The survey was open from April 4, 2017 through April 16, 2017, and 187 valid responses were recorded. The majority of participants work for companies that employ less than nine employees (29 percent) or more than 250 employees (28 percent).