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The provincial economy has yet to reach bottom, say nearly three-quarters of small- and medium-sized business owners who responded to a recent ATB Financial survey.

In its quarterly Business Beat survey, ATB found just 12 per cent of business owners believe the economy will be better six months from now, versus 74 per cent who believe it will be worse. The financial institution says continued low oil prices, uncertainty in government, high unemployment and a low loonie were among the reasons cited by respondents.

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But even though they lack faith in the provincial economy overall, business owners appeared to have a better view of their own prospects, with 64 per cent saying they expected their companies would be better off or the same in six months.

Meanwhile, where business owners were once concerned about being able to find qualified staff, they now say they’re worried they may have to let valued workers go.

In both 2015 and 2016, small- and medium-sized businesses said labour and workforce issues were “the one thing that keep them up at night,” other than sales. But the reason for that concern has shifted dramatically over the past year, ATB said in its report.

According to ATB, businesses in 2015 were concerned about struggles in finding staff. This year, however, they’re worried about issues like having enough work for staff, meeting payroll and pending layoffs.

“This is my extended family. Am I going to be able to feed them and keep them in jobs?” says one business owner quoted in the report. “If I fail, they all fail.”

This year, 17 per cent of business owners surveyed by ATB said labour and workforce issues were their top concern (up one point). Other issues were cash flow (15 per cent), operations (11 per cent), sales and marketing (seven per cent) and the general economy (six per cent).

ATB’s survey included interviews with the owners or operators of 625 randomly selected small (0-49 FT staff) and medium (50-499 staff) businesses in Alberta.