Griffith Business Survey Reveals Positive Insights

Over 200 businesses took part in the 2023 Business Survey conducted by Griffith City Council and Griffith Business Chamber over the 2023 December quarter, bringing to light some encouraging trends.

The survey was designed to collect information relating to local investment and businesses in Griffith.

Griffith City Council’s Director of Economic and Organisational Development, Shireen Donaldson said the survey would assist in determining how Council could help local businesses in the future, as well as analyses the current business climate.

“The results of the survey and the subsequent report will help inform the development of strategies and long-term plans, as well as support grant applications for our region,” Ms Donaldson said.

“In addition, the report will assist in providing information for major infrastructure projects as well as long-term operational and strategic decisions for Council.”

Griffith Mayor, Doug Curran said the findings would be a valuable tool for local businesses to determine opportunities within their industry and provide key information to attract investors.

“The results show that almost three quarters of the businesses surveyed are happy with how they are operating, and over half are planning expansions over the next five years,” Mayor Curran said.

“Almost all lof the respondents believe that innovation and technology is one of their greatest strengths.

“The results are encouraging and demonstrate that while we are affected by external influences such as the staff shortages, rising costs of rent, water, power and lending, local businesses and industry are working hard to develop and grow.”

President of Griffith Business Chamber, John Nikolic thanked Council for organising the survey and businesses that participated.

“It was great to see over 200 responses,” Mr Nikolic said.

“Overall, the picture appears to be that business confidence has returned to pre-pandemic levels, with 57.6 of surveyed businesses saying they are looking to expand in the next 12 months (compared to 51 per cent in 2019) and 72.7 per cent indicating that they were either happy or very happy with their business performance (slightly higher than in 2019).

“This exceeds State-wide data, which has shown only modest increases in business confidence over the last three quarters.

“However, we also know that businesses are suffering from ever-increasing costs of doing business (including to wages, energy costs, insurance and freight costs) and that consumer demand is still suppressed due to the cost of living pressures.

“For Griffith, the primary constraint on growth remains a lack of labour - it's notable to see that 33 per cent of surveyed businesses were advertising for staff and that 75 per cent wanted to increase staff numbers in 2024.

“We’re hopeful that the new Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) will help to alleviate staff shortages.”

Find the Griffith Business Survey summary at https://bit.ly/3V94o2s

• Topics:

• Local Economy / Business
• Community Groups
• Local Council