US: SAF CEO shares good economic news

Floral industry business owners who are responding to new trends in customer service and demand, and paying attention to economic shifts at the macro level, have good reason to be cautiously optimistic about the future.

Peter Moran

That was a message Society of American Florists’ CEO Peter Moran delivered last month when he presented his biennial State of the Industry Address at SAF Maui 2016.

“There is general consensus among economists that the consumer goods sector is a healthy force in the economy today and that bodes well for the floral industry which is so dependent on consumer spending,” Moran said. “The economy has certainly come further than most people realize.”

Moran noted that the private sector has added jobs for 74 consecutive months just under 15 million new jobs, which is the longest period of sustained growth on record. Read more.

“Unemployment, which peaked at 10 percent in 2009, the highest it has been since 1983 is now at 5 percent,” he said. “The budget deficit has fallen by roughly one trillion dollars. And overall U.S. economic growth while still anemic, has significantly out-paced that of every other advanced nation.”

Still, Moran noted, many variables, and significant challenges, remain for business owners trying to forecast the future — not least among them the looming presidential election.

Click here to read the complete article at SAF.org.