1. 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

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. New methodology
Note: Data missing from Q to Q and Q1/Q Shaded area indicates recession.

6. 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 Q to Q and Q1/Q Shaded area indicates recession.

7. New methodology
Note: Data missing from Q to Q and Q1/Q Shaded area indicates recession.