CEOs anticipate $100M of new development in Oshkosh for 2024

OSHKOSH ― Business is booming in Oshkosh.

The consensus among local CEOs and business owners is that Oshkosh had exceptional financial growth last year after the city experienced more than $57.3 million of investment in commercial and industrial property.

And they’re anticipating at least another $100 million of new development for 2024 despite inflationary pressures, rising interest rates, worker shortages and supply chain issues.

These were the findings of the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce, which polled 50 Oshkosh business executives for their annual economic outlook survey.

According to the poll, 76% of the participating CEOs rated their company’s outlook as good to excellent over the next six months while that figure grew to 89% for the next 12 months, and 93% over the next one to three years.

The survey went on to show 58% of the local CEOs and business owners polled reported an increase of sales last year over 2022; 65% indicated profits were up; and 59% revealed their companies either met or exceeded profitability expectations.

“The results of this survey are very positive, and it shows Oshkosh is in a very good position in the marketplace, so that’s good news for our local companies and good news for our market for growth and development,” said Oshkosh Chamber President/CEO Rob Kleman.

“The results aren’t surprising, either, because we’re in a good market if you consider us as a part of the Fox River Valley, where there are over 100,000 people in that metro area.

“And our economy is very diverse from a sales, manufacturing and labor perspective, so while it’s 50 businesspeople we polled and not hundreds, this still gives us a good representation and we feel good in the consistency of the survey’s results,” he added.

The Chamber was also pleased with a rising industrial sector that saw numerous expansions and new multi-family growth housing growth in the downtown and central city area.

The Oshkosh Avenue corridor has also benefited from new hotels, restaurants and office space, directly leading to more employment opportunities within the city.

Eliminating school lunch debt: Arby's donates $74K to pay off Oshkosh school lunch debt for 3,600 students

48% of CEOs indicated they added staff to their payroll in 2023 while 81% increased wages.

As a direct result, 48% of the CEOs and business owners polled reported their companies added staff to their payrolls while 81% said they increased wages.

It’s all reflective of Oshkosh’s low unemployment rate, which the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development put at 2.4% in December 2023.

And that number is down considerably from 14.3% in 2020 and remains below the national unemployment rate of 3.7%.

But while 57% of the CEOs in the survey said they expect to hire more staff this year, 47% indicated they have unfilled job openings — a number that points directly to the challenge of finding qualified candidates.

“The labor supply issue is always the No. 1 issue we hear from employers, and that the kind of labor supply issue varies depending on which business you’re talking to,” said Kleman.

“But we are hearing issues of finding skilled labor, so we’re looking at putting training programs in place so we can help support our workforce but also other resources that can help market companies to potential employees.

“We’re looking at school-to-work programs from sixth grade and up that will help to promote the careers that will be around in another 10 to 20 years so we can add value to the local economy and create partnerships between business and education all the way down to the elementary and middle school levels,” he added.

Despite the labor concerns, the CEOs and business owners still had a very positive outlook on the Oshkosh community and the future of its economy.

• 95% indicated Oshkosh is a great place for raising a family.

• 92% said Oshkosh is on the right track.

• 95% believed Oshkosh has a strong, vibrant economy.

• 81% thought it was business-friendly.

• 82% reported it is a great place to start a business.

• 87% feel Oshkosh has a strong and vibrant economy.

Workers remove union: Wisconsin workers remove local union at Keurig Dr Pepper warehouses in Oshkosh, Eau Claire and Tomah

Only 34% of CEOs think the US is heading in the right direction from a business climate perspective.

From a state perspective, 75% believe Wisconsin is heading in the right direction businesswise as opposed to just 34% who felt the same about the U.S. as a whole.

“The perception of Oshkosh is very good as they rate our community, health care, education system, public safety all very highly,” said Kleman.

“They view this as a great place to raise a family," he continued, "and that’s a great thing even with our challenges of labor shortages, lack of qualified candidates, inflationary challenges and higher interest rates.”

Have a story tip or public interest concern? Contact Justin Marville at jmarville@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Oshkosh CEOs report huge financial growth expected in 2024