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Survey finds sa国际传媒官网网页入口 residents value growth, though few say economy is thriving
Downtown sa国际传媒官网网页入口 is surrounded by clouds in July.
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A majority of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 residents think economic growth is important, according to a poll by the Economic Forum of sa国际传媒官网网页入口, though Burque帽os鈥� responses to the survey indicate more work needs to be done.
Just under a third of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 residents ranked the strength of the local economy as 鈥渆xcellent鈥� or 鈥済ood鈥� in the survey. Another third said it was 鈥渇air,鈥� while the remainder said they thought the economy鈥檚 condition was 鈥減oor鈥� or 鈥渧ery poor.鈥�
The poll 鈥� commissioned by business group Economic Forum and carried out by Research & Polling Inc., New Mexico鈥檚 largest market research firm 鈥� surveyed 602 residents and 139 business leaders in the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 metropolitan area in May and June of this year. Doug Campbell, tech entrepreneur and sa国际传媒官网网页入口 native, funded the research.
鈥淚 was very pleased with the outcome of 96% of the residents wanting economic growth,鈥� said Emily Howard, executive director of Economic Forum of sa国际传媒官网网页入口, whose membership is made up of influential city business leaders.
Most Burque帽os 鈥� 87% of residents and 94% of business leaders 鈥� said they felt positively about locally owned businesses, more than the number of people who said they felt positively about large corporations.
The survey showed gaps between respondents鈥� expectations of local businesses and their perceptions of their actual performance. More than 80% of residents said it is important to them that local businesses operate in ethical and environmentally friendly ways, improve the well-being of the community and provide job skills to residents, while only around half of the respondents said they believed businesses were doing well in these areas.
Howard said she hopes to engage business leaders to help bridge the gap between the public鈥檚 expectations and their impressions of how businesses are actually performing.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 just going to require more discussion,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if there鈥檚 one clear, easy answer, but we really want to try to get the business community together to talk about that and figure out what鈥檚 important to change and what鈥檚 actually fixable or addressable.鈥�
Nationwide consumer sentiment about the economy is 50.3 this month, one of the lowest numbers ever recorded and just slightly above an all-time low of 50 in June 2022, according to a survey from the .
Negative consumer sentiment affects business development locally, Howard said, as does New Mexico鈥檚 stagnant population growth.
Despite negativity about the country鈥檚 economy, sa国际传媒官网网页入口 residents showed optimism about the local financial climate. Around 60% of residents said they felt confident about the growth of sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 economy, while 38% said they were not confident.
The number of business leaders who felt positively about sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 economic growth was slightly lower at 50%. Around 48% of business leaders said they were not confident.
