THE Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia regularly conducts regional business surveys. Responses were split overall and no individual companies were identified.
Questions covered general economic sentiment, business growth prospects, employment plans, capital investments, challenges, sales and pricing data. Respondents were asked to look back on the changes that occurred between 2023 and 2024 and on the years to come by comparing 2024 to 2025.
Philadelphia’s regional economy tends to follow national trends and business owners say uncertainty is a major concern this year, which is new, said Roc Arenter, executive vice president, economist and director of research from the Consumer Finance Institute of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
“No big surprises (with some results), it’s the cost of labor, materials, financing, sales are not as high as they would like, but the newcomer is actually uncertainty regarding regulations and government policy.” he said. “One thing I want to emphasize is that uncertainty is coming and you know when it rains it pours on us.”
According to the survey, 62.3% of respondents said they expected to pay more for goods and services in 2025 compared to 2024. This is an increase from the 58% of respondents who said the same for goods and services in 2024 compared to 2023.