Andrew Hebden is Assistant Editor (Business) of The Journal »
Matt James runs fingerprint-recognition technology firm UKB Security »
James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
Phil Renton is managing director of North East IT empire Croft »
Andrew Mernin is the Digital Journalist for nebusiness »
Matthew Rippon is an IP lawyer for BHP Law »
Formerly editor of a national business lifestyle magazine, Jez Davison is a business writer for the Evening Gazette in Teesside »
Ian Brown, Northumberland farmer and businessman writes about the agricultural industry »
Accessibilty Champion Steve Wilkinson on the importance of inclusion »
Shared Interest Staff at Newcastle's fair trade firm blog on their latest international missions »
PR man David Honeywell on raising your profile in the right places »
Marion Bernard is from NorthStar Equity Investors »
Caroline Theobald is the Managing Director of Bridge Club Ltd »
John Barton of Renew, on the region's low carbon and sustainable energy agenda »
Paul Williamson is Senior Partner at Deloitte »
Stephen Hall is Tax Partner at Deloitte »FORGET the feel-good stories, the recession is not yet over for businesses.
A raft of positive data has lifted some of the gloom surrounding the economy - but try telling that to Corus and other firms still mired in the fog.
The steel-making giant is fighting to preserve 2,000 local jobs and the future of its Teesside Cast Products (TCP) plant at Redcar, while others have had to switch off the life support machine altogether.
Invista Textiles is closing its nylon polymer plant at Wilton with loss of 300 jobs, while chemical company Dow is axing an eighth of its Teesside workforce as part of a major cost-cutting exercise.
To these companies, talk of green shoots of recovery is cheap.
But recent data indicates that a more fertile climate may be around the corner.
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply's (CIPS) purchasing managers' index for services rose above the key 50 level that marks the divide from contraction to expansion, while even the beleaguered construction industry showed the slowest pace of decline for more than a year.
Meanwhile the housing market appears to be rousing from its slumber.
Halifax reported a 2.6% jump in house prices - the biggest jump since October 2002 - while mortgage approvals and house sales are on the rise.
The data suggests an economic recovery could be under way - but they don't herald the death of the recession.
Anybody who suggests otherwise is missing the point.
An economic recovery does not necessarily translate into a genuine business upturn. And while local companies are saying things are not getting any worse, their order books are hardly full.
History shows a typical six-12 month lag between economic and business recoveries, so 2010 is likely to be the year for a revival.
There's no guarantee, though, that this will happen.
Fragile confidence, fears that protectionist policies could stem the flow of international trade and the prospect of higher UK taxes to fund public debt could mean the recent bounce is followed by another slump.
As Robert Lowell, one of America's greatest confessional poets, once warned: "If there's light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of an oncoming train".
- Post to:
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
Nowpublic
Reddit
« Previous | Home | Next »