(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s CEOs are less worried about the state’s economy than what is going on nationally.
Wisconsin’s largest business group, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, this week released its Summer 2025 Employer Survey. And once again bosses in the state said they’re concerned about the national economy.
“Trade, the status of the federal budget reconciliation package, and unnerving geopolitics are unpredictable at best right now,” the business association’s Kurt Bauer said in the report. “So, it is no surprise that Wisconsin business leaders are concerned about how their business – and the broader economy – will fare in the months and years to come.”
The Employer Survey shows 36% of CEOs said “state of the national economy” was their biggest concern. Another 11% said it was “global economic conditions.”
When asked to rate Wisconsin’s economy, 20% of CEOs said the state’s economy was strong, and 68% said it was moderate. Just 12% of employers said Wisconsin’s economy was weak.
Just 13% of those same CEOs said the national economy was strong, while 67% ranked the national economy moderate, and 19% said the national economy was weak.
“Uncertainty always has an economic impact,” Bauer added.
Despite the uncertainty, 86% of survey respondents said their business was profitable in the last six months. The association said 92% predict they will be profitable through the end of the year.
While Bauer said there is concern among Wisconsin CEOs about the national economy, there’s not much concern about the direction of the country.
Seventy-five percent of the CEOs in the survey said the U.S. is headed in the right direction, compared to just 25% who say the country is on the wrong track.
It, however, is almost the opposite for the direction of Wisconsin. The survey says 63% of Wisconsin CEOs say the state is headed in the wrong direction, and just 37% say the state is on the right track.
