Paul Martin's Business Update - June 27th, 2014

Something’s changing.

The monthly tracking of Saskatchewan’s small business optimism conducted by the Canadian Federation of independent Business or CFIB took what the organization is calling a nose dive this month. Just what caused the big change is not clear but it is something of a flag.

When asked to rank their biggest challenges, local business owners said a shortage of labor continues to be the most significant limiting factor in increasing sales or growth. It grabbed nearly two votes for every one for the second biggest problem…management skills.

Interestingly, the top two issues centred on human resources.

The biggest cost constraint they identified was fuel and energy costs.

All of this resulted in Saskatchewan standing fourth among the provinces on the Optimism Barometer, behind Alberta, BC and Newfoundland but still above the national average.

CFIB noted that while Saskatchewan is still faring well nationally and the new level exceeds low points we saw in January and February, there is a decidedly darker tone being exhibited by small business people when compared to a year or two earlier.