VBR and EPR Business Conditions Survey and Index 1st Quarter of 2016 Outlook January 28, 2016 Lisa M. Ventriss, President, VBR Amanda M. Wassel, Research Economist, EPR

Survey Results The Raw Data*: Response Rate per VBR Sector Percent of VBR Sector 22 – Utilities 80% 23 – Construction 50% 31-33 – Manu. 89% 44 – Retail 51 – Information 40% 52 – Finance 53 – Real Estate 83% Sector Percent of VBR Sector 54 – Prof./Tech. 87% 56 – Admin/Support 50% 61 – Education 70% 62 – Health 89% 71 – Arts/Rec. 100% 72 – Accommodation 83% 81 – Other 25% *Note: “Raw Data” refers to data that come directly from SurveyMonkey, and has not been subject to weighting or other statistical methods.

Survey Results The Raw Data: Unweighted Survey Response Survey Q1 2016/Q4 2015 Pos. Neut. Neg. 1. Optimism about Business Climate 29% 42% 2. Demand, past 3 months 43% 34% 22% 3. Expected Demand, next 3 months 50% 35% 15% 4. Capital spending, past 3 months 45% 21% 5. Expected cap. spending, next 3 months 40% 17% 6. Employment change, past 3 months 39% 53% 8% 7. Employment change, next 3 months 41% 6% 8. Ease of hiring 5% 33% 62% Unweighted replies – many neutral or close to neutral, positive pulls ahead slightly in 1st three questions. Finding qualified workers is still difficult for the majority of businesses.

Survey Results The Raw Data: Unweighted Survey Response, Comparison Between National Business Roundtable (BRT) and VBR Next Three Months BRT VBR Capital, increase 30% 43% Capital, decrease 27% 17% Capital, neutral 44% 40% Employment, increase 35% 41% Employment, decrease 34% 6% Employment, neutral 31% 53% Very close to the BRT on capital for the next 3 months, overall close replies.

New methodology Note: Data missing from Q1 2009 to Q1 2010 and Q1/Q2 2013. Shaded area indicates recession.

New methodology The Overall Economic Outlook Diffusion represents the general sentiment of CEOs towards the economy. Q1 is represented by the blue line. The line represents the level of optimism. A point at “0” would indicate every respondent answering “neutral”. A point at 100 would equal every respondent answering “strongly optimistic”, while a point a -100 would equal every respondent answering “strongly pessimistic.” The points are showing between 0, equaling neutral. Note: Data missing from Q1 2009 to Q1 2010 and Q1/Q2 2013. Shaded area indicates recession.

New methodology Note: Data missing from Q1 2009 to Q1 2019 and Q1/Q2 2013. Shaded area indicates recession.