Statewide Results - January 2006
BUSINESS IMPEDIMENTS
     N = 527 Massachusetts CEOs with 20+ employees
    margin of error +/- 4.5%    confidence level 95%
    Methodology

Concerns about health care costs and lack of skilled labor dominate.

• Health care costs by far the major impediment.
  21% rated it the most significant
  
• Not enough skilled labor the second most significant impediment.
  16% raed it the most significant

  
   January 2006    Mass Economic Assessment and Analysis Project
   Conducted by the University of Massachusetts Lowell Poll

Health care costs are by far the most significant impediment to growth. 21% of CEOs cite health care costs as the most significant impediment to expansion. While this is probably true nationwide, the high cost of health care in Massachusetts has contributed to making health care costs the number one business impediment across regions and sectors in terms of intensity.

The second most-cited business impediment was "not enough skilled labor", with 16% of CEOs citing it as the most significant impediment to expansion.

Question

"Now I'm going to read a list of possible impediments to business expansion. Which one, if any, is the most significant impediment to your business expansion?"