The senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York says that the recession upstate has been "kinder and gentler," according to Rachel Stern at the Press & Sun-Bulletin:
[Richard] Deitz credited the power of higher education, the lack of a housing bust and a stable construction industry as factors that kept the recession relatively mild in upstate New York. But Deitz warned the future is cloudy because of state and local budgets. The education and health service sectors are the strongest in upstate, Deitz said. In addition, the leisure and hospitality sector and professional business services have faired pretty well. "Upstate New York's growth in these sectors compares pretty favorably to the U.S.," he said.
Auto show
Rochester's auto show kicked off yesterday. As Jeffrey Blackwell reports at the Democrat and Chronicle, it's all about the Volt these days, with General Motors pushing hard for its consumer-level plug-in electric. Curious about the Volt? The Innovation Trail's Zack Seward took one for a test drive yesterday, and talked to GM's spokesman about when the car will be available to Rochester-area buyers.
Small business
A survey given by Paychex says that small business owners are seeing some good signs in the economy - but still face challenges as they try to grow. Nate Dougherty at the Rochester Business Journal reports that the poll showed 47 percent of respondents say government regulation is slowing them down:
“After several extremely difficult years for small businesses, 2011 is shaping up as a year when indicators of progress and growth appear to be moving in the right direction for many categories of small business,” said Martin Mucci, Paychex president and CEO, who rang the opening bell at NASDAQ Thursday to mark the company’s 40th anniversary. “While regulation clearly weighs heavily on the minds of small-business owners, optimism for growth and plans for adding employees bode well for small businesses in particular and the U.S. economy in general.” Respondents said the regulatory issues most affecting small business were tax changes (56 percent), health care reform (39 percent) and state regulations in response to budgetary challenges (25 percent). The research found 61 percent of respondents have seen more government regulation over the past five years.
Deals
- Buffalo's Kathabar Dehumidification Systems will design the environmental controls for a giant public gardens project in Singapore (Jonathan Epstein, Buffalo News).
- M&T Bank has donated $100,000 to United Health Service's Foundation to help with the completion of the intensive care unit at Wilson Medical Center outside Binghamton (Traci DeLore, Greater Binghamton Business Journal).
- Cody Gate Ventures will no longer be overseeing three companies that are moving into Kodak's Eastman Business Park. Instead, Cody Gate has moved the firms into the portfolio of a newly created company - Trillium Group LLC (Thomas Adams, Rochester Business Journal).
Events
- The Rochester Institute of Technology and the Upstate Venture Association are holding a forum about venture capital on March 15 (Thomas Adams, Rochester Business Journal).
- The University at Buffalo is hosting a seminar for middle school girls and their parents, to push girls toward math and tech careers (David Bertola, Buffalo Business First).
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