Slow economic growth hampers business
Are things looking up for area businesses and their workers? Survey says: Yes, 80 percent of 230 business owners, executives/managers and other businesspeople said they were “confident” or “very confident” in the prospects for their business for 2014, noted a survey conducted by Lyons Companies in February.
But another question revealed that 54 percent think it will take more than three years to “see the economy rebounding and operating on all cylinders.” That’s too slow.
Our survey – conducted during the annual Economic Forecast sponsored by Lyons Companies and the Center for Economic Education & Entrepreneurship at the University of Delaware – shows expectations of an improving economy. But on the ground, no business I know is taking anything for granted. “Things are better, but not good enough” is what our clients and colleagues at the Economic Forecast seem to be saying. People want stronger economic growth, and sooner.
The recent announcement of the Small Business Administration’s Delaware district “Small Business Award” winners showed me that entrepreneurship is alive and well.
Recent real estate data from DECON First showed that the housing market is recovering in line with the overall economy.
But we can do better as a state, region and nation. And by “do better” I mean: Create more jobs, faster and with more staying power. We are long past the point as a society that the complications of regulations are negatively affecting existing business and budding entrepreneurs, forcing them to divert resources from growing a business to competing with the government and complying with paperwork requirements that don’t add value for the business nor the public.
Regulations are of the utmost importance, but we need a smarter regulatory system.
Initiatives that many businesses support such as the Small Business for Sensible Regulations Coalition aim to fix our broken regulatory system. As one business owner put it: “There are good regulations, but just too many of the bad ones.”
Richard Heffron, president of the Delaware State Chamber, noted, “Our members aren’t looking to get rid of regulations; we just need a smarter regulatory process. We need a system that does a better job of anticipating the impact that a new rule will have on businesses and manufacturers before it is implemented. A streamlined process, with greater transparency, will give our job creators the freedom to reinvest and expand their operations.”
Our senior senator from Delaware, Tom Carper, put it this way after I and other business leaders from Delaware met with him: “We don’t have to choose between having strong economic growth and strong regulations to protect our workers, our environment and our public health; we just need to strike the right balance between these important priorities by using some common sense.”
I’ve talked with dozens of entrepreneurs, and the first thing on their minds is not regulation. Rather, they are focused on changing the world, or at least a part of it, with an idea, a product, a service or some other offering that helps some sector of the economy.
Regulation is necessary, it’s essential and it can be productive –but it has now overgrown into a thicket of local, state, federal (and even international) requirements that make entrepreneurs defensive and suppress job creation and stunt economic recovery. That’s one of the reasons why more than half of businesspeople think it will take more than three years to see the economy running “on all cylinders.” Delaware and our entire region can and should do better.
David F. Lyons Sr. is president and CEO of Lyons Companies, a privately owned insurance brokerage, risk management, human capital management and employee benefits firm based in Wilmington. Mr. Lyons serves as chairman of the Delaware Council on Economic Education and the Delaware Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship at the University of Delaware.