Diminished Optimism
While more than half (56 percent) of Maryland businesses surveyed expect the markets they serve to grow and only 6 percent see a market decline in the coming year, fewer firms are optimistic for market growth than in the fourth quarter, when 72 percent of responding firms surveyed reported that they expect the market for their products and services to expand in 2019.
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Sixty-three percent of firms surveyed expected to see an increase in their sales in the coming year, while 6 percent expected their revenues to decline, down from 74 percent of firms expecting revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2018.
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Forty-five percent of the businesses surveyed expected to increase their employment in the coming year, while 4 percent expected that their employment will decline, down from 53 percent of firms expecting to add jobs reported in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Figure 3: Market - Coming Year
Figure 4: Revenues - Coming Year
Figure 5: Employment - Coming Year
