The results from a 17 month COVID economic impact survey are in. U-W Oshkosh Researcher Jeff Sachse says 138 businesses completed the full survey. They report losses of more than 150 thousand dollars. The survey ended in August and he says businesses are anticipating more losses.
“I’m going to term it as we as a state anticipate colder weather,” Sachse says. “And the question of whether we will go back into hibernation as we have over the course of the second winter of the pandemic.”
Sachse says the finding of the survey were of no surprise to him.
“They’re continuing to see difficulties of finding a few products,” he says. “For example, they reported about a $2.4-million loss in the value of their inventories over the course of the last month. And of course, they reported about a $2-million loss in income.”
According to Sachse, reporting companies reported one-and-a-half million dollars in wage and productivity gains. He thinks this means employers are increasing wages to be more competitive and attract workers.
