The IU East Business and Economic Research Center led online on 2024 East-Central Indiana Business Survey in September 2024.
Invitations by email have been sent to more than 1,000 local commercial operators to request their opinions and expectations for affairs and economic conditions in the region of the center-east of Indiana, which includes seven counties, including Fayette, Franklin, Henry, Randolph, Rush, Union and Wayne. Three recall emails were sent in the four-week survey period to encourage responses. Overall, 115 valid responses were received.
2024 was a mixed bag for companies in the region. A quarter of its companies interviewed maintained their production / commercial activities at almost at the same level as in 2023, while more than two fifths increased certain aspects of their activities.
Most have maintained or expanded their number of employees in 2024. Less than a tenth reduced their capital investment. More than four -fifths have increased their cost to do business.
As indicated in the IU East Regional Business Confidence Index (IUERBCI), 2024 was a difficult year, with only a third of companies that have managed to increase their profitability. Profitability was roughly the same as in 2023 for about a quarter of companies in the region, but some saw profits decrease.
In their planning for 2025, 89% of companies questioned should increase or maintain their levels of 2024 production / commercial activities. Only 5% planned to reduce their level of employment; The others planned to develop or maintain their current job. More than 90% of the companies questioned planned to maintain or increase their capital investments in 2025.
Among the companies interviewed, around two fifths provide an increase in their profitability, despite expectations between more than three -quarters of the participants in the survey, anticipating an increase in their costs in business.
Although its current sub-index situation decreased by 1.4%, the IUERBCI and its expectations of expectations increased in 2024 by 0.5%and 2.2%, respectively. This suggests that companies in the region experienced a more difficult year in 2024 than in 2023. However, companies expected a better year in 2025.
More than a quarter of the companies questioned have planned that the same affairs and the same economic conditions will prevail in 2025 as in 2024. Half was optimistic, while about a quarter was pessimistic about the prospects of 2025.
The payroll was the category of costs that most companies should increase in 2025. Others, in the order listed among the respondents, were insurance; public services; taxes; Repair and maintenance of the machine / equipment (excluding replacement); office, store and / or factory supplies; inventory; social benefits; and replacement of the machine / equipment.
The other costs that had to increase by fewer participants included marketing; shipping; Website maintenance; Loans (that is to say the costs of interest); journey; real estate; professional consultation; and other costs (such as purchase of equipment, food costs and raw materials).
A more in -depth examination of the responses of the participants (for the industry sectors which consisted in addition to a participant) revealed that the individual costs that half or more participants in the industrial sectors should increase in 2025 were as follows: insurance; pay; Repair and maintenance of the machine / equipment (excluding replacement); public services; social benefits; and taxes.
At the same time, the survey results reflected that the industrial sectors which should suffer from the increase of more than five costs questioned were educational services; accommodation and food services; Other services (except public administration); and public services.
Region business operators have awarded the expected increase in their costs to do business in 2025, mainly to the expected increases in supply prices (for functions, stores and / or factory), public services tariffs, salary rates, increased operating costs other than those of public services and the increase in raw material prices.
In most industry sectors, the expected increases in the price of supplies (for offices, shops and / or the factory) were considered to be the main cause of the expected increase in the cost of activity in 2025, followed by the expected increase in salary rates, public services and operating costs other than those of public services. No industrial sector should suffer from more than five reasons.
Lack of support, the high cost of life and relatively reduced consumption due to economic uncertainty was among the concerns of companies in the region. Although economic uncertainty has been a scary factor, economic slowdowns could also be accompanied by substantial possibilities.
Companies have been encouraged to take advantage of these opportunities by capitalizing on obtaining high -level talent and market share of their superimposed and unprepared competitors.
The front and rear covers of the business survey report in the center-east of Indiana 2024 were designed by Sofia Elyanoff of the IU East student, winner of the Student Contest in 2025 Berc.
The full report can be read on the IU East Business and Economic Research Center website as part of the regional commercial research section.
About the IU East Commercial and Economic Research Center
The fold is sponsored by the School of Business and Economics of Iu East. The Center is designed to help collect and create economic data that will be useful to support the economic vitality of the eastern regions of Indiana and Ohio, conducts economic research and studies to seize the pulse of the local and regional economy, and works with community groups / organizations to improve knowledge of the local commercial environment.