The Mobile Chamber released the results of the 2025 Mobile Area Economic Outlook Survey during its 10th Annual State of the Economy held Wednesday, November 20, 2024 at the Saenger Theatre.

2025 MOBILE AREA ECONOMIC OUTLOOK SURVEY RESULTS

“Each year, our annual Mobile Area Economic Outlook survey results allow us to monitor trends, identify fluctuations and evaluate how this data corresponds to economic patterns.  Most importantly, it tells the story of how businesses are succeeding in Mobile,” said Mobile Chamber President and CEO Bradley Byrne. “This year’s results tell us much about the outlook of Mobile’s economy compared to the national economy, the benefits and opportunities to build Mobile and future trends.”

The overwhelming majority (73%) of respondents thought the current business climate in Mobile is “Very Good” or “Good”. That is compared to only 28% of respondents feeling the same way about the national climate.

While this is a positive sign for Mobile and the growth that we are seeing in our community, this is not unusual as we look back on recent years. We have typically seen similar trends during federal election years facing the national economy.

The survey shows 28% of the respondents believe that economic instability and uncertainty are the biggest barriers to doing business in the U.S.

Other major national concerns include the federal regulatory environment (at 24%), high national taxes and tariffs (at 11%), and labor market challenges (30%).

This is a completely different picture when compared to the barriers on the Mobile economy.

Nearly half of the respondents believe that acquiring a skilled workforce is the number one challenge.

“From this data, we must also continue to focus on crucial infrastructure projects, reduce regulatory burdens, find more access to capital and financing and create an environment for more competition from local businesses,” said Rodgers.

When you look at the local economic landscape, the top three priorities include enhancing education and workforce development (24%), improving public infrastructure (20%) and attracting new industries and investments (20%).

“Know that your economic development team at the Mobile Chamber is working hard on all of these fronts. By leading the Mobile Area Workforce Alliance, our team is working hand-and-hand with our education providers to ensure the nearly 3,000 graduating seniors every year in Mobile have access to the jobs being created in our community every day,” said Rodgers.

The Mobile Chamber continues to support, encourage and advocate for infrastructure investment with partners at the City of Mobile and Mobile County, the Mobile Airport Authority and the Alabama Port Authority.

Respondents believe the top three industry sectors for recruitment should include manufacturing (70%), logistics and transportation (55%) and technology and innovation (50%).

All of the Mobile Chamber’s current recruitment projects focus on these areas.

The top two infrastructure upgrade priorities remain the I-10 bridge (77%) and the deepening and widening of the ship channel (55%).

“Both projects will have generational impacts on our region, allowing for increased growth and economic development,” said Rodgers. “2025 will be a great year for Mobile, as we will begin construction on the I-10 bridge and see the completion of the ship channel project.”

With the increase in economic activity over the last few years, the Mobile Chamber economic development team often gets questions from companies looking to locate and expand in our community about plans to address barriers for workforce, including housing, childcare and transportation.

According to the data 51% of respondents believe that we have “limited” or “very little availability” when it comes to housing options.

Childcare continues to be a challenge on the rise around the U.S. and here in Mobile with 35% saying their employees have trouble finding childcare.

More than half of the respondents rated our transportation options as fair (55%).

Looking at future performance trends, respondents expect to see a better year in 2025 when it comes to sales and profits with 71% expecting to increase profits in 2025. Hiring and capital investments show a slight increase or no change.

As a data-driven economic development team, the Mobile Chamber regularly use data to shape efforts, and receives many public requests for information. Over the past 6 months, the Chamber has developed and launched Mobile Metrics – a public-facing data source hosted on the Mobile Chamber’s Economic Development website.

Within Mobile Metrics, there are currently 26 separate data points, categorized into 3 key sections: economic data, industry data and workforce data. Our aim is for Mobile Metrics to be utilized as the main economic data tool for our community and prospective companies. The data is continuously tracked and updated as frequently as new data is released.

“Overall, the data collected from the survey tells us two stories. It shows that businesses remain confident in Mobile,” said Mobile Chamber Vice President of Economic Development David Rodgers. “More importantly, it tells us where to focus our efforts to keep the momentum going. We expect 2025 to be a strong year, and we will continue to push the envelope for our community to see these positive trends continue.”

Dig Deeper: To view all the survey results, click here.