NEW YORK -- A Chemical Bank survey of 932 randomly selected New York-area small businesses shows continuing skepticism about the economic recovery.
More than 90% of the businesses have seen no improvement or only slight improvement in conditions in the past few months, and more than 80% expect the local economy to remain the same or worsen.
Additionally, 84% say the recession has affected them a great deal or somewhat, while most of the small businesses also said their revenues or profits had decreased or were unchanged. Despite the negative economic outlook, 87% of these companies expect to survive the next year; 7% plan to leave New York state.
The businesses surveyed have $1 million to $ 1 0 million in annual revenue.