Business leaders across Tennessee continue to be more optimistic about the state’s economic outlook than the nation’s, according to the most recent survey conducted by the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
The Tennessee Business Leaders Survey shows that respondents credit Tennessee’s positive outlook largely to stronger business investment and better government leadership. Looking more broadly, 80 percent view the US economy as worse than a year ago, before the COVID-19 pandemic began, but 90 percent believe it has improved or held steady over the past six months. Thirty six percent of respondents in August 2020 expected the US economy to be a little or considerably better over the next 12 months, but that number climbed to almost 50 percent in the January 2021 survey.
“This shows us that Tennessee business leaders are optimistic that the worst economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are behind us,” said Bill Fox, director of the Boyd Center. “There’s even more optimism about the Tennessee economy, and an appreciation for how quickly many businesses were able to adapt to the new normal of the past year.”