The International Franchise Association (IFA) today released its 2023 Franchising Economic Outlook report, showing that franchise unit and job growth continues to outpace pre-pandemic levels, delivering jobs and business ownership opportunities across the United States, despite economic uncertainty across all industries and in daily life. The report highlights the impacts of today’s unique economic challenges, which have affected system growth and led to an increase in wages, among other factors.
“Even with today’s economic headwinds, franchised businesses continue to grow, providing more good-paying jobs for their employees, and serving their local communities,” said IFA President and CEO Matt Haller. “After an historic year of growth during the post-pandemic recovery, the size of the franchise economy in 2023 will exceed pre-pandemic levels – demonstrating the power of the business model for prospective business owners when franchisors and franchisees work together.”
The full report is available here.
Key highlights from the report include:
The overall number of franchise establishments will increase by almost 15,000 units in 2023, or 1.9%, to 805,000 units in the U.S.
Franchising will add approximately 254,000 jobs in 2023. Growing at 3.0%, total franchise employment is forecasted to reach 8.7 million.
The total output of franchised businesses — the measure of total economic activity in nominal dollars — will increase by 4.2% to $860.1 billion in 2023, up from $825.4 billion in 2022.
Franchises’ GDP share of the overall economy will remain stable at 3%. Compared with 2022, franchises’ GDP — the monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within U.S. borders — will grow at a slightly slower pace of 4.2% to $521.3 billion.
Service-based industries and quick-service restaurants will witness higher growth than other industries.
On the state and regional level, the report shows that states have experienced different rates of franchise…
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