OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) – A new survey from UW-Oshkosh shows growing uncertainty for Wisconsin business leaders as they expect another 12 to 18 months of impact from the COVID-19 virus and hold little hope for further government assistance.
Results of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s October COVID-19 business and economic impact survey also reveal a rekindled concern regarding long-term viability.
“Business owners are beginning to understand that the impact of what we’re seeing right now will be with us for some time,” said Interim Director of the Center for Customized Research and Services Jeff Sachse. “Cash flow and liquidity, which again has become more challenging with PPP and other federal assistance programs lapsing – and no new stimulus suspected at least until after next week’s election.”
The 422 responding Wisconsin business owners (representing 19,700 employees) report the following changes in the past month: $1.4 million in income losses, $218,000 in inventory losses, $838,000 in lost wages and productivity, 1,907 lost positions, and $3.2 million in other financial gains.
Those financial gains are not immediate turnarounds, however.
“[They’re] anticipated future economic gains, most likely from activity that had been scheduled or originally intended for this year are being postponed into next year. Things like event bookings or other types of hotel reservations for example,” Sachse explained.
The results also indicated that about 8.8% of responding businesses estimated that they wouldn’t make it far into 2021 if current conditions continued.
“Under current conditions, again which would have included the governor’s mask mandate as well as capacity limitations, that I know the were subject to legal challenges – under those conditions, they would not be able to remain viable businesses for longer than 3 months,” Sachse told WTAQ News. “It’s not really surprising, given what we’ve been seeing both as we’ve gone through the summer and the fall, and obviously with the spike we’re seeing the state presently.”
Sachse added that 42% of respondents believe that they will be dealing with the pandemic for at least the next year, with 14% suggesting the impact will continue through 2022 and beyond.
With that in mind, he says a lot of businesses are just doing the best they can with whatever strategy that they have available to them.
“It’s a much more aggressive posture than what we saw at the beginning of the pandemic,” Sachse said. “From a strategic perspective, businesses are now starting to really be open to trying anything they can to generate additional cash flow, whether that’s moving services online or moving into different markets…It’s much easier from a business perspective to make a significant investment in something that they know they will be able to utilize over the course of a year or longer as we come to grips with the depth of this.”
Similarly, business respondents believe that the state’s economy will begin to recover in the latter half of next year with 34% suggesting the economy may recover to pre-pandemic levels in the second half of 2021 and 31% seeing recovery in 2022.
Survey results are voluntary and reported at a plus-minus 5% confidence interval. The next survey begins November 2nd.
