This month saw a steep drop in businesses that are looking to hire additional staff, decreasing from 52 per cent in October to 35 per cent in November.
Expectations around profitability and revenue have also declined with only 9 per cent of businesses expecting profitability to increase, and 15 per cent of businesses expecting revenue to increase over the next three months. This is down from 14 per cent and 20 per cent respectively.
This coincides with the RBA’s decision to lift interest rates to a 12-year high of 4.35 per cent in November. Business conditions remain challenging with concerns around input costs remaining the number one issue for a twentieth consecutive month, with 81 per cent expressing concern.
The next highest concerns were predicted retail electricity and gas price increases, followed by cashflow and availability of working capital.
Although business confidence only decreased by one percentage point this month to 30 per cent, there is still a significantly higher number of businesses worried (44 per cent) about their individual business prospects than those that are confident.
