The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia conducts regional business surveys on a regular basis. The responses were shared in aggregate and no individual businesses were identified.
The questions included general economic sentiment, business growth outlook, plans for employment, capital investment, challenges, sales and price data. Respondents were asked to both look back at the changes between 2023 and 2024 and ahead comparing 2024 to 2025.
Philadelphia’s regional economy tends to follow national trends and business owners say uncertainty is a major concern this year, which is new, said Roc Armenter, executive vice president, economist and director of research of the Consumer Finance Institute at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
“No big surprises [with some results] it’s about the cost of labor, of materials, of financing, sales are not as high as they wanted to be, but the new kid on the block is actually uncertainty about regulations and government policy,” he said. “One thing that I want to emphasize is that uncertainty is coming and you know when it rains, it pours on us.”
According to the survey, 62.3% of respondents said they expect to pay more for goods and services in 2025 compared to 2024. That’s an increase compared to the 58% of respondents who said the same of goods and services in 2024 compared to 2023.