For the seventh time, the Business and Economic Research Center (BERC) of the School of Business and Economics at Indiana University East has compiled the IU East Regional Business Confidence Index (IUERBCI).

The BERC conducted the annual East-Central Indiana Business Survey in September and October in seven counties of the region, including Fayette, Franklin, Henry, Randolph, Rush, Union, and Wayne in Indiana. The survey asked regional business owners/managers to provide opinions on various aspects of their business performance for 2022, expectations on these aspects for 2023, and projections of the overall business and economic environment in their area as well as the anticipated rise in individual costs of doing business for 2023.

The value of the IUERBCI for 2022 was computed from the survey results. At the same time, the results were also instrumental in drawing conclusions about how the region’s business outlook had changed.

The inputs for the compilation of the index value were gathered from the survey mentioned above. It was delivered to and completed by the members and/or partners of the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce; Experience Franklin County, Indiana, Inc.; Franklin County Convention, Recreation & Visitors Commission; Franklin County Welcome Center; New Castle-Henry County Chamber of Commerce; New Castle-Henry County Economic Development Corporation; Randolph County United; Rush County Chamber of Commerce; Rush County Economic and Community Development Corporation; Union County Development Corporation; Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce; and the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County.

While the responses from the region’s knowledgeable business operators are informative, they also allow a comparison of the region’s 2022 actual progress with the 2021 level, and reveal the region’s 2023 expectation via the values of the IUERBCI and its subindexes. However, the findings and outlook derived from such responses do not reflect all the impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Since the data was collected, many businesses might have changed their plans to continue coping with the pandemic.

The year 2019 was designated as the revised base year of the index when the East Central Indiana Business Survey coverage expanded from five counties to seven counties.

The IUERBCI and its sub-indexes, composed of the responses to the annual business survey conducted to the regional business operators, all declined in 2022. The IUERBCI went down by 3.6% to 88.58 points, indicating that businesses in the region had less confidence in doing business in 2022 than the year  before.

At the same time, its Present Situation sub-index (83.49 points) was down by 2.6%, while its Expectation sub-index (91.44 points) was down by 5.1%. Both declines suggested that those surveyed businesses in the region did experience a worse year in 2022 than the year before and had a worse outlook for 2023 than the outlook made for 2022 one year ago.

The front and back covers of the report were designed by IU East student Courtney Mummert, the winner of BERC’s 2023 Student Design Contest.

The full survey report can be read on the following webpage under the Regional Business Research section. (https://east.iu.edu/business/berc/index.html)