As a business owner I MIGHT be able to give some sort of insight as to whats happening out there... this is of course my experience, but talking to other business owners, it seems to be a general consensus.
Main problem is a severe lack of confidence in the market place... it all started when KRudd stood on the podium and told us all that were to face the worst financial crisis since the great depression... everyones phone went quiet from that point on. Idea was to sit tight, hold onto what cash they had and see what happened.
This then created a downturn as the big cash wheel slowed right down... shopping centres put out an MO to operators to not commission any work unless urgent... trades feel by the wayside.
Meanwhile Gov injects Billions into school infrastructure.. the architect in the shop next to me did well out of all this.. not many more did. Government then don't pay all that was promised to schools and then they had to pick up the shortfall.
KRudd gets rolled by Julia..
Shes even more of a disaster.. all glimmers of hope for a recovery disappear with the promise of a carbon tax... once again, no one knows just how much their overheads will be and so the financial clamp down begins again... more companies go to the wall.
Carbon tax arrives and its not the end of the world and for a while confidence grows again and we see people prepared to spend a few dollars here and there.
Another electricity rise happens and the cash stops flowing again.
Now we have an election coming and until its over people are nervous again and so we are all doing it real tough again and looking to "tick over" rather than make money... ride it out is the phrase going around.
Noone is going to hire anyone right now.. not with the uncertainty about. its clamp down time and sit tight - again.
Electricity rises are by far the biggest concern for many many people.. restaurants simply cannot keep putting prices up to accommodate every rise.. they have to wear it or put prices on that no one wants to pay which means going out of business.
Falling profit margins... quiet phones and rising costs are killing all industries... its cut throat out there for quoting.
Tough time for any business and not a good time to be out of work im afraid
