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February 24, 2025
OSHKOSH – Survey says: business is looking good in Oshkosh.
The latest results of the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce’s annual Business Outlook Survey have been published, summarizing the results of the more than 40 questions the chamber posed to area companies and organizations.
Per the publication’s announcement, the chamber sought to examine the city from a number of angles in service of a general answer: “What are local business leaders anticipating in Oshkosh for 2025?”
Regarding the responses – tabulated from a total of more than 50 participants – Chamber President/CEO Rob Kleman said “this survey points to (the fact) that our businesses are doing very well, and they feel positively about our area.”
Now approaching his third year in his current role, preceded by more than 30 years working on Oshkosh’s economic development, Kleman said he’s witnessed the city undergo “tremendous evolution” during his tenure with the chamber.
“Things have changed immensely since I started at the chamber back in the early ’90s,” he said. “Predominantly, Oshkosh has certainly been a manufacturing town, but we’ve seen a shift to a diverse employment mix.”
Kleman said that range is evident across the chamber’s 900-plus members, which then informs the Business Outlook Survey with insights from “a good mix of businesses that respond.”
After reviewing the previous year’s questions and editing, adding or omitting based on relevancy, the chamber sends the survey to its members in late December or early January for what Kleman said is “an important piece of what we do, and (how we) connect with our members and our business community every year.”
“It’s a great way to touch base with our membership – to keep in touch,” he said. “Then, if there are some early warning signs and signals that we can uncover from this, that’s beneficial – and if things are going well, we want to know that as well.”
The results
If the 2024 survey painted a hopeful picture for the Oshkosh business community, Kleman said the new survey bears even more optimism.
“Specifically, 87% (of survey participants) believe their sales are going to increase in 2025 over 2024 – very positive news,” he said.
Of the other business-related results that stood out to him, Kleman said 78% of respondents rated their outlook for 2025 as “good to excellent” over the next six months.
He said that positive outlook jumps to 92% when respondents consider the next 12 months and climbs to 98% looking ahead one to three years.
“(Regarding) their performance in sales, 87% say sales are going to be increasing – that’s great news,” he said. “(And) 50% expect to hire more people in 2025, so our employers are hiring, which is also good news.”
Kleman also said 51% of respondents reported zero job openings at their businesses, while 27% reported having unfilled positions, compared to 47% in 2024.
“You can see a little bit of softening in the job hiring market based on the numbers compared to last year,” he said. “So, while we’re still looking for labor (and) qualified applicants, it generally seems there’s just a slight softening in that from the previous year.”
Of the survey’s questions regarding business-adjacent attributes of Oshkosh and the community itself, Kleman said the responses were likewise highly encouraging.
“If you look at what the CEOs told us, they told us that we get really great marks in having good healthcare facilities, education (and) public safety,” he said. “We’re a safe place to live, it’s a safe region to live in and then we get high marks for being a great place to raise a family, having a strong, vibrant economy and (being) business-friendly… Specifically, 89% believe we are a great place to raise a family, and 84% thought that we’re a business-friendly area, with 86% saying it’s a great place to start a business.”
To view the full results of the survey, visit oshkoshchamber.com.
Opportunities ahead
In some cases, Kleman said the results of the survey have reinforced the positivity he’s sensed and helped foster as head of the Oshkosh Chamber.
The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, governmental institutions, the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), Oshkosh Corporation, 4imprint, ThedaCare and developments along the Fox River, the downtown area and the Interstate 41 corridor have helped to drive the city’s growth, he said.
“It’s been exciting,” he said. “And then, of course, being part of the Fox River Valley and New North region, we’re kind of one happy family, working closely with our neighbors. And the employment base – being able to draw from a larger regional basis is definitely beneficial for all of us. Not just for Oshkosh, but for communities around us like Fond du Lac and the Fox Cities area and north to Green Bay, for that matter, and to the west.”
By “taking the temperature” of the community with the annual Business Outlook Survey, Kleman said the chamber is able to identify “where there are opportunities that we can go chase that bottom line from an economic development perspective.”
He said the chamber can then work to encourage growth in those areas, whether working to address training, child care, funding and/or infrastructure deficiencies; fostering “a positive business climate” regarding taxes and fees; or simply by highlighting specific demands.
Labor shortages, Kleman said, continue to be expressed by survey respondents.
“That challenge probably isn’t going away anytime soon, based on market demographics and retirement, etc.,” he said. “Part of what we do is we want to make sure that our labor force is growing and that we have an attractive place to live – that Oshkosh and Northeast Wisconsin, by extension, is a good place to live and work, and that helps in recruiting people to our market. The bottom line is growing our population base – growing our workforce.”
In recent years, Kleman said the chamber added lifestyle questions to the survey, which have already tracked improvements in Oshkosh’s entertainment, shopping and dining options.
“Specifically, 73% (of 2025 survey respondents) feel Oshkosh has an exciting downtown, and from a shopping perspective, 67% think we have ample shopping opportunities – that’s up from 54% last year,” he said. “Then, 73% feel Oshkosh has diverse dining opportunities. That’s up from 59% in 2024. Last year, we said we need to continue to focus on additional dining opportunities and shopping opportunities.”
With the potential for such progress, for the chamber to improve its efforts and for business leaders to express their opinions, Kleman said he hopes to increase the number of survey respondents each year.
“The chamber – we always keep our antennae up,” he said. “We need to invest in the community, and it does take money to do that, but it needs to be responsible. We need to invest in the right things.”
