CONCORD — With the elections behind us the focus turns to addressing many issues raised during campaign season, and for New Hampshire employers that means strengthening the state’s business climate.

Congratulations to Kelly Ayotte for her victory in New Hampshire’s gubernatorial election and to the state senators, representatives and executive councilors on their victories.

The Business & Industry Association is ready to work with our elected and appointed officials to address Granite State businesses’ biggest challenges, and our recently released Business Leader Survey shines a spotlight on those challenges. Conducted in collaboration with the Center for Ethics in Society at Saint Anselm College, the survey polled more than 500 business owners and executives with respondents representing businesses of all sizes across every region of New Hampshire.

The survey clearly identifies top issues for employers as 86% of business leaders cited affordable housing as their most pressing policy issue with almost 75% saying the state’s worker shortage is keeping them from expanding their operations.

As New Hampshire’s chamber of commerce, BIA’s mission is to be the unifying voice of business, championing a competitive business climate and prosperous economic future for New Hampshire. Our Business Leader Survey follows our summer public policy roundtable talks across the state and year-round efforts to know what keeps business owners and executives up at night.

BIA’s collaborative efforts help build consensus on solutions, many of which are long-term and complex. That’s an essential component of our Blueprint N.H. 2030, an objective, data-driven assessment of the competitiveness of New Hampshire’s business climate and development of a long-range vision for the state’s economy. Blueprint N.H. 2030 will serve as our guide to bridge legislative sessions and election cycles and ensure we think about our challenges by looking years into the future to inform decisions we make today. BIA will formally launch the blueprint in early in 2025.

This proactive approach is seen in the Business Leader Survey. For instance, the survey showed 80% of business leaders cited restrictive local zoning as a barrier to building more housing and nearly as many support creating state-level limits on local zoning to encourage housing development.

On workforce development, nearly 90% say the state’s educational system should be better aligned to more closely match employer needs. We heard this in our roundtable talks and conversations throughout the year. Our university and community college systems are tremendous partners of the BIA and committed to building future workforces. Our partnerships with higher education, public schools’ career and technical education programs and skilled trades associations exemplify our commitment to being a champion of business to drive and unify efforts toward solutions.

In addition to housing and workforce development, about two-thirds of survey respondents said the insufficient supply of affordable, quality childcare makes it harder for businesses to recruit and retain employees. Addressing this challenge is BIA policy priority.

New Hampshire’s high electricity costs were another top concern. Our industrial user costs in August 2024 were 82% higher than the U.S. average and commercial user costs were 42% higher. Uncompetitive prices burden Granite State manufacturers and corporate campuses and threaten the growth of our promising advanced manufacturing and life sciences sectors. Finding ways to lower energy costs is a top BIA priority.

Nearly 80% of survey respondents said the state should encourage new energy generation sources, which reinforces BIA’s work to establish clear, consistent and balanced state energy infrastructure siting policies, and state and regional policies that improve system reliability and lower costs. BIA continues to advocate for an all-energy-resources approach with a preference for market-based approaches and development of local sources.

BIA will continue to support business-friendly legislation that goes before lawmakers and oppose legislation that would slow or stop economic growth. We’ll also continue to expand our advocacy through our Blueprint N.H. 2030 by emphasizing proactive policies that address challenges with long-term solutions.

New Hampshire is a wonderful place to live, learn, work, play and raise a family. We’re blessed with natural beauty and fortunate to have a solid foundation to truly make New Hampshire a top state for business. BIA and our partners are committed to developing policies that build lasting prosperity for all residents, and we look forward to working with the next Legislature.

To learn more about the Business Leader Survey, watch Fred Kocher’s NH Business show on WMUR this Sunday, Nov. 10, and at WMUR.com after that. I will be joined by Max Latona, executive director of the St. Anselm College Office of Partnerships.

Michael Skelton is president and CEO of the Business & Industry Association. Visit BIAofNH.com.