“This decline in optimism about the overall economy is evident across industries, but was particularly pronounced for firms with fewer than 500 employees,” said Richmond Fed economist Sonya Ravindranath Waddell. Alongside the decline in optimism, expectations of firms for real GDP growth and stock market appreciation both softened.
News Release | Data & Results – Q1 2022
Special Questions on Labor Availability
Optimism about the U.S. economy fell in the first quarter. When survey participants were asked between March 7 and 18 to rate their optimism about the overall U.S. economy, the average index was 54.8, well down from the 60.3 reading in the fourth quarter of 2021. When asked to rate their optimism about the financial prospects of their own firms, optimism was relatively unchanged, edging down to 69.6 from the fourth quarter reading of 70.8.
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