FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
2015 Business Trends for Oregon Closely Parallel National Projections

Conservative Optimism and Confidence Overall, with Emphasis on Training and Retention Trending Upward

DECEMBER 21, 2015, SALEM, OREGON - Cascade Employers Association announced today the results of the 2016 National Business Trends Survey which they conduct annually on behalf of the Employer Associations of America (EAA). The EAA, a not-for-profit national association consisting of 33 regional employer associations that serve 35,000 companies and more than six million employees, distributes this annual report to business executives to provide valuable insight on actual and projected business trends in areas such as general business outlook, investments, staffing, pay strategies, cost cutting measures, etc.

The Business Trends Survey results from Oregon executives closely parallel those of the Nation (1,242 respondents) and the Western Region (296 respondents). Based on the information collected from 90 Oregon employers between October and November of 2015, "this study allows executives to make decisions driven by how other executives plan to approach their businesses in 2016" says Gayle Klampe, President of Cascade Employers Association and a member of the EAA Board of Directors.

When it comes to the Oregon area participants in the Business Trends Survey, the results indicate the majority of executives are optimistic about the business outlook for 2016, are confident they will be awarding pay increases, and are planning to increase their training budgets in order to invest in their existing employees.

When asked about the overall outlook for the 2016 economy, 90% of the executives expect it to be about the same or better compared to 2015, and 90% also expect 2015 to be about the same or better when compared to 2014.

This optimism continues as 69% of the organizations experienced slight to significant increases in sales/revenue in 2015, and 81% of the executives reported that they expect increases in sales/revenue in 2016.

Despite an optimistic outlook, employers are still focused on the following "serious" short-term challenges to their businesses: skilled labor shortage (38%); competition (36%); cost of regulatory compliance (29%); ability to pay competitively (28%); and, ability to pay for benefits (21%). The percentage of executives expecting these five challenges to be "serious" in the long-term increases dramatically in all cases with the ability to pay for benefits moving up to 45%, cost of regulatory compliance up to 44%, skilled labor shortage up to 43%, competition up to 41% and ability to pay competitively moving up to 35%.

Employer actual payouts dropped slightly this year, with 76% of participating organizations reporting that they awarded pay increases in 2015. This is down slightly from the 82% who reported plans a year ago to award pay increases in 2015.

Compensation strategies for 2016 demonstrate conservative employer confidence:

Only 2% of the executives report plans to freeze or reduce wages/salaries in 2016.  This indicates a downward trend compared to the 11% who either froze or reduced wages/salaries in 2015, and the 19% who froze or reduced wages/salaries in 2014.  One response that shouldn't be ignored however are the organizations who are delaying or are uncertain about their wage/salary strategy for 2016 at nearly 8%, up from less than 5% in 2015.

Increases in staffing levels for 2016 are expected by 49% of employers responding to the survey (55% in 2015). 90% of the executives said their hiring would be to replace staff due to voluntary turnover and 76% said they would be hiring to fill newly created jobs. The positions most difficult to hire remain professional staff, as cited by 49% of respondents. This is closely followed by skilled production workers (45% of responses).

To overcome the challenges in recruitment and retention, executives indicated they plan to place increased emphasis on training and retention of existing employees. The key areas of focus include providing existing staff with additional training and development (65%), filling jobs with existing staff that lack the job skills (62%), and focusing on existing staff retention in jobs where recruitment is difficult (55%).

The National Business Trends Survey reports national, regional and individual state trends applicable to 1,242 organizations, covering locations in all 50 states, surveyed in October and November of 2015. Industries represented in the study include 43% from manufacturing, 8% from professional and business services, 4% from health services, and 45% from other industries. The survey also represents companies of all sizes: 1-99 employees (52%), 100-249 employees (25%), 250-499 employees (13%), 500-999 employees (5%), and 1,000+ employees (5%).

For the state of Oregon, the 90 respondents represent a diverse group of industries including 46% from manufacturing, 9% from professional and business services, 8% from health services, 6% from wholesale trade, and 31% from other industries. The survey also represents Oregon companies of all sizes: 1-99 employees (60%), 100-249 employees (17%), 250-499 employees (16%), 500-999 employees (3%), and 1,000+ employees (4%).

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