The Canadian Federation of Independent Business’ monthly business barometer index for Saskatchewan shows that short term optimism fell 2.5 points to 43.3 in October, but long term optimism improved by 2.9 points to 57.9.

All but three provinces saw a drop in optimism this month.
The national average is 53.3. A news release from the CFIB indicates 27 per cent of Saskatchewan businesses say their overall state of business is good, compared to 31 per cent nationally, and 26 per cent say it is bad, similar to the national average of 27 per cent.

Ten per cent of Saskatchewan small and medium-sized businesses expect to hire more staff but 27 per cent plan to cut full -time employment.