The proprietor of a travel agency in Dubbo is finding it hard to be a “small business owner at the moment”.
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Kerin Stonestreet is not alone.
The NSW Business Chamber’s latest quarterly survey reveals business confidence in the Orana and Far West region is by far the lowest in the state.
For the December quarter the region’s business confidence index was minus 27.3 compared with minus 9.2 in the previous four quarters.
The region also had the lowest unemployment rate of 2.8 per cent and the lowest youth unemployment rate of 5 per cent.
The business confidence index for NSW was minus 3.1 compared with 2.2 for the previous four quarters.
Its unemployment rate was 4.4 per cent and its youth unemployment rate 9.8 per cent.
The Western NSW Business Chamber’s regional manager Vicki Seccombe has released the data and acknowledged the difficulties facing business people in the Orana and Far West region.
“The challenges business face here can’t be overstated,” she said.
“The drought and high energy costs are hitting particularly hard and business is telling us that conditions are the toughest they’ve been in years.”
Ms Seccombe said We Know Travel Dubbo owner Kerin Stonestreet had “summed up the sentiment in the region”.
“It was a terrible quarter, sales were down, there’s a skills shortage,” Mrs Stonestreet said.
“It’s just so hard being a small business owner at the moment.”
Ms Seccombe said businesses in the Central West region were bracing for tougher times.
“While business confidence in the Central West also declined, businesses here generally reported conditions which were a little better in the December quarter than in other regions, supported by a temporary boost to sales and revenues,” she said.
“That’s not expected to last however, with business expecting a further deterioration in the March quarter. ”
The quarterly survey identified energy costs, the drought and “uncertainty over the NSW and federal elections” as contributing to the subdued confidence of business owners in the state.
‘Ms Seccombe said the NSW Business Chamber had launched a campaign called “Keeping NSW Number 1” because although the economy was the envy of other states, “we need to keep the economy running at full capacity”.
