Small business confidence continued its upward trend, rising for a third consecutive month. Confidence levels increased by 2 percentage points to 28 per cent in July. Despite the improvement, confidence levels remain subdued amid challenging trading conditions and are only 5 percentage points higher than the record low of 23 per cent recorded in April 2024.
Businesses in regional NSW are significantly less confident than their Greater Sydney counterparts, with confidence levels at 23 percent compared to 31 percent, respectively.
NSW Small Business Commissioner Chris Lamont said these sentiments were echoed by small businesses visited on a recent tour of regional NSW.
“It’s clear that many parts of regional NSW are doing it tough, with some businesses reporting the toughest conditions they’ve ever seen,” said Lamont. “Some of these challenges are cyclical and should improve over time, however I encourage businesses experiencing difficulties to contact my office to discuss how we may be able to help”.
Increases in input costs – including fuel, government fees and charges, insurance, materials, utilities and wages – remains the top concern for small businesses, with 87 per cent expressing concern.
Concerns around access to staff and labour saw the biggest increase since the previous month with a 7 percentage point increase.
The NSW Small Business Commission Momentum Survey is a customised survey focussed on getting an accurate assessment of the sentiments and issues faced by the small businesses of NSW. The survey relies on contributions from actual small businesses rather than generic assessments of other macroeconomic data sets.
