Small-and medium-sized enterprises, considered the backbone of Europe's economy, are much more confident in their business prospects after signalling a few months ago that the worse of the recession was almost over.
A survey conducted biannually by the European Association of Craft, Small-and Medium-Sized Enterprises shows a 10-point increase, to 64.7 per cent, in confidence since last year.
Data for this survey, including a Craft and SME barometer and an 'SME business climate index', was collected between December 2009 and last month from around 25,000 small businesses in the eurozone.
SMEs, which are independent and have fewer than 250 employees, represent 67 per cent of the job market and nearly 99 per cent of European firms.
The latest available data for SMEs at European level go back to a 2004-2006 Eurostat study. The publication showed then that small businesses were the main contributors to growth during that period.
According to Gerhard Huemer, director of the UEAPME Study Unit, the data from this survey show SMEs to be confident that the downward spiral of recession is behind them. Uncertainty remains as to whether the evolution of the economic picture will translate into "a stagnant, low growth period" or "a real recovery".
The survey recorded significant dissimilarities among different sectors. The services sector, while still recording a negative balance, advances towards stability at a much faster pace than manufacturing and construction, and predicts better results for the current semester on employment.
The construction industry, which had reported some progress in the previous semesters, mainly due to government-sponsored works, lagged behind the pace of all the other industries.
The study hinted the cause to be the long-term unsustainability of public support and the persisting over-capacities in the sector.
Manufacturing is currently reporting the worst confidence levels, as the industry is hard hit by the crisis in the automotive and investment goods sectors. However, employment was fairly stable in this sector.
Increases in the unemployment figures appear to be steadily shrinking compared to the previous semesters.
When it comes to investments, the survey recorded negative expectations in all sectors, although a clear difference emerged between forecasts for the previous semester and the actual results, which were significantly higher than foreseen.