Business confidence has dropped across the state, including in the Hunter, amid a backdrop of drought, bushfires and weak household demand, according to new data.
The NSW Business Chamber has released the results of its quarterly survey, which shows the Hunter Region is among many parts of the state affected by falling confidence.
The survey results show that business confidence in the Hunter dropped by 43.5 percentage points in the December quarter, compared with a 34 per cent fall statewide.
Newcastle and Lake Macquarie registered no change, while the state's sharpest decline was in the Southern Highlands/Shoalhaven region (73.3 per cent).
In terms of unemployment, the Hunter Valley and the Newcastle/Lake Macquarie regions have largely improved when compared with the December, 2018, results.
The Hunter's general unemployment rate decreased from 5.8 per cent to 5.1 per cent in the 12-month period, while the youth unemployment rate dipped from 13.1 per cent to 11 per cent.
In Newcastle, the general unemployment rate fell from 5.5 per cent to 4.4 per cent, though the youth unemployment rate climbed slightly, by 0.2 percentage points, to 10.7 per cent.
While the Hunter has avoided the worst of the bushfire crisis so far this season, Hunter Business Chamber CEO Bob Hawes said their economic impacts remained significant in parts of the region and had exacerbated business downturns brought on by prolonged drought.
"Even before the fires hit, we were receiving feedback that the ripple effect of drought was being felt across main streets in rural townships and, in fact, right down the valley to Newcastle," he said.
"The fires resulted in a lot of lost tourism trade and booking cancellations, because people opted to stay at home, and our vineyards are looking at a major loss of crop due to smoke taint, which will have a significant impact on an industry worth more than $500 million to our region."
The Hunter chamber says weak household demand is also hurting business, with survey respondents' perceptions of the economy's performance down and indicators such as staffing and capital spending also falling sharply.
"This time of year normally offers a welcome boost to business trade but conditions have moved in the opposite direction," Mr Hawes said.
"We are fortunate in our area to have export and manufacturing industries with broad national and international markets, which have more capacity to weather the regional downturn, and our construction sector is still buoyant.
"However, we do encourage people to get behind our businesses by buying local, because our communities depend on them for employment and economic opportunity."
