Business confidence rebounded in Nebraska during July, according to the latest monthly survey from the Bureau of Business Research at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Nebraska business confidence stood at 112 in July, based on responses to the Survey of Nebraska Business. This is well above the neutral value of 100 and up sharply from 100.3 in June.
“The drop in business confidence during June proved to be temporary, given the strong rebound seen in July,” said Eric Thompson, an economist and bureau director. “Strong business confidence is critical for the Nebraska economy, given struggles in the key agricultural sector.”
There was, however, another monthly drop in consumer confidence. Responses to the July Survey of Nebraska Households indicate that consumer confidence fell to 101.2 during the month, only slightly above the neutral level of 100 and well below the June value of 104.4.
“Nebraska households were very focused on the cost of living during July,” Thompson said.
Twenty-two percent of responding households indicated that the cost of health care and health insurance was their top financial issue, while 17% chose taxes. Thirty-four percent of businesses chose customer demand as their top business issue. However, as in most recent months, competition in the product and labor markets also were top concerns. Twenty-four percent of businesses chose labor availability as their top concern, and 15% chose competition with other businesses.
The surveys are sent each month to 500 randomly selected Nebraska businesses and households. During July, 89 businesses responded to the Survey of Nebraska Business, for a response rate of 18%. There were 131 responses to the Survey of Nebraska Households, for a response rate of 26%.
