New economic index measures middle-market confidence
Want to know how the U.S. economy is doing? Check the GDP report; it comes out every quarter. Interested in the domestic labor market? The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases a monthly jobs report detailing employment figures. Large publicly traded companies can be tracked daily through stock indexes like the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor’s 500, and small business confidence is captured in a monthly survey by the National Federation of Independent Business.
But what about companies in the middle? Firms with yearly revenues between $10 million and $1 billion, which number around 200,000 businesses, employ 40 million people and total one-third of private sector gross receipts. Until recently, there were little economic data tracking this group of businesses as a class.
But a new index developed by Chicago-based audit, tax and consulting firm RSM (formerly known as McGladrey) aims to measure business conditions within the middle market. Developed in partnership with Moody’s Analytics, the index comprises survey data collected from a representative sample of 700 middle market executives.
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Zach Brooke is a former AMA staff writer turned freelance journalist. His work has been featured in Chicago magazine, Milwaukee Magazine, A.V. Club and VICE, among others. Follow him on Twitter @Zach_Brooke.
