Table 4. Average ranks of barriers and prospect for all businesses surveyed.

Problem	Dec-05	Jun-06	Oct-07
Damage	2.64	3.02	2.41
Insurance	2.66	2.64	2.58
Employee	2.73	2.97	2.69
Customer	2.89	2.76	2.68
Crime	–	2.41	2.94
Levee	3.19	3.20	2.87
Utilities	2.58	3.15	2.33
Communication	2.72	3.18	1.99
Environmental	2.23	2.42	1.82
Governmental	2.66	2.47	2.34
Financing	2.47	2.31	2.41
Prospect	2.54	2.31	2.30
Recovery Progress	–	2.41	2.68

Note: Except for the “recovery progress” variable, scores range from 1 to 5 and the higher the score, the more important the problem.