Business Closings Report: Positive, But Not Ideal

The latest business closings figures show mixed news for the state’s economy.

The number of businesses to close from January through June is down 19.26 percent from the number to close for the first half of 2009, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said on Wednesday.

The number of businesses to start up, however, is down 2.5 percent.

The reports shows 5,606 businesses filing papers to dissolve in Connecticut, but a positive sign is that 13,544 filed to incorporate, albeit that that number is down from 13,883 during the first half of 2009.

“The numbers recorded for the second quarter of 2010 are far from ideal, but the good news is that we continue seeing an overall positive trend – showing that after a long recession, the business climate in Connecticut is slowly improving,” Bysiewicz said in a news release. “(I) am confident that given time, we will get there.”

Challenges to starting businesses include credit availability and high costs of health care and energy, she said.

“We must focus on reducing these costs and opening up more streams of capital so our businesses can grow and create jobs,” she said.

“The decline in business failures is essentially good news, but what we now need to see is business expansion coupled with tangible job growth and associated gains in income,” \Don Klepper-Smith, chief economist and director of research for DataCore Partners LLC and Chairman of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, said.

He said the indicator of improvement is consumer spending power, which is down about 2 percent.
 

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