Gazette Business
BCC president talks of challenges
9:24am Thursday 16th February 2012
YOUTH unemployment and a need to boost employer confidence were two of the key issues addressed by British Chambers of Commerce president Martyn Pellew when he spoke to local business leaders.
The president was guest speaker at a breakfast meeting hosted by North Hampshire Enterprise at Oakley Hall last Thursday He touched on a number of topics, including how retailers fared over Christmas, the knee-jerk reactions of the Government as it attempts to improve the economy, and the difficulties the private sector is having in trying to absorb public sector redundancies.
Mr Pellew said: “As I go round the country, I do find that businesses are keen to recruit, but one of the things about investing either in capital equipment or people and jobs is that you have got to have the perspective that things are going to get better and that you are going to be able to grow your businesses.”
Looking more closely at the local economy, Mr Pellew spoke of the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership. He was able to give a sneak preview of a report compiled by Experian, and commissioned by the BCC.
“Here the status is very good,” said Mr Pellew. “The report is not out yet but it will be published shortly and it shows your area has tremendous resilience. In fact, your economic performance has been outstandingly good.”
“But there was just one problem that came out of the survey,” added Mr Pellew. “And it is this area is particularly challenged with growing youth unemployment.”
He urged everyone at the meeting to get on board with a new BCC campaign that was launched the previous day in London – Business is Good for Britain. The aim of the campaign is to highlight the role of business as a positive force for the UK recovery.