Emerging Stonger 2014, the
latest annual report from the
Ontario Chamber of Commerce and
The Mowat Centre, shows surveyed businesses in the
Hamilton-Niagara Peninsula expressing the highest measure of business confidence province-wide, and fourth-greatest ease in filling jobs. (In spite of this, the OCC recently
forecast that the region is forecast to fall below the provincial average in job creation and see its share of the provincial labour market erode, while less optimistic regions like Toronto are projected to experience phenomenal economic growth.)
The "Regional Confidence Index" in ES14 is a hybrid yardstick that merges the more granular confidence measures described in
Emerging Stronger 2013. That report found business owners expressing considerably higher confidence in their own operations (72%) than the province as a whole (41%). Those numbers now stand at 74% and 42% respectively.
Compared to last year:
• 1 percent fewer respondents believe Ontario is going in the right direction in terms of fostering a culture of innovation and smart-risk taking;
• 1 percent fewer respondents believe Ontario is going in the right direction in terms of building a 21st century workforce;
• 7 percent fewer respondents believe Ontario is going in the right direction in terms of restoring fiscal balance;
• no change in terms of respondents’ views on whether Ontario is going in the right direction in terms of taking advantage of new opportunities in the global economy; and
• 4 percent fewer respondents believe Ontario is going in the right direction in terms of identifying, championing, and strategically investing in our competitive advantages in the global economy.