According to the latest Bay Area Council’s Business Confidence survey, 58 percent of CEOs and executives questioned believe local economic conditions have improved over the past six months, up from 36 percent three months ago.
Looking ahead, 63 percent said they expect a better Bay Area economy six months from now, a 16-point increase from last quarter.
Overall business confidence among the executives is at the highest level since July 2005, the group said. It registered at 62 on a scale of 100, up from 43 a year ago. The all-time low was 31 in January 2009.
29 percent of those surveyed expect to add staff in the next six months, 14 percent plan layoffs, and 55 percent expect no change. San Francisco’s unemployment rate was 9.6 percent in April (rates for May will be published in a week).
∙ Bay Area execs see bright business future [SFGate]
∙ San Francisco County Unemployment At 9.6 Percent In April [SocketSite]
I appreciate the post even if it wasn’t meant for me to appreciate.
The thing about this is folks, if CEOs are having a brighter outlook, hopefully that will lead to more hiring. The fact that CEO confidence has shot up in such a brief time period means there is still hope this will translate into more hiring in the near term future. Confidence and hiring don’t happen in tandem overnight in large companies; bureaucracy ensures this. However, I dont think it will be in the same numbers that were let go…
Hiring hasn’t happened yet, but neither were enough CEO’s/companies comfortable with what the future held.
Our local companies, for the most part, are doing pretty well at present. According to a recent smart money report; “Hands-down the strongest-performing real estate market in February was San Francisco, which posted an 11.9% gain over the past 12 months.” http://www.smartmoney.com/Personal-Finance/Real-Estate/Home-Prices-Are-on-the-Move/ . I believe that a significant part of the reason SF has had the strongest rebound of any metro area on a year over year basis is because our companies did not lead the recession like they did in 2000. They were collateral damage this time, and thus well positioned to recover.
[Editor’s Note: That Smart Money report is old news. The latest: March Case-Shiller Index: Mixed Messages For San Francisco MSA. And yes, all MSA (which includes San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa, and Alameda).]