Local industry alliance begins new member survey

In a new quarterly survey of its members, the Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance finds 46% expect to increase production in first half of 2012, 38% expect to increase capital expenditures, 24% expect to do some in-house hiring and 19% expect to hire more contract employees. GBRIA Executive Director Connie Fabre says the survey was completed between Dec. 22, 2010, and Jan. 9, with responses from 37 of its 53 members in the petrochemical, energy, paper, pharmaceutical, storage terminal and other industrial sectors. “It’s important because these plants account for about 40% of all of the jobs in the greater Baton Rouge area,” Fabre says in a release. The survey will be used to track a forward-looking index in future quarters and will be similar to the index reported by the CEOs of large U.S. corporations who compose the Business Roundtable. The GBRIA index result of the first survey is 76. The value is calculated as a diffusion index centered on 50, and ranges from minus 50 to 150. Values over 50 predict an expanding economy, while values below 50 predict a contracting economy. “So with a value of 76, this means that business is slowly gaining some momentum,” says Fabre. You can see the full survey results at the GBRIA website here.