Confidence of Bay Area Executives Hits New Low
Confidence of Bay Area Executives Hits New Low
According to the Bay Area Council's quarterly Business Confidence Survey, 90% of the 601 CEOs and top executives who responded felt that economic conditions in the Bay Area had worsened compared with six months earlier, while 7% felt that conditions were the same and 3% felt that conditions had improved. When asked about future conditions, 52% expect economic conditions to worsen, 25% believe they will stay the same, and 23% feel the economy will improve. In regards to layoffs, 51% of executives in San Francisco are planning workforce decreases, while 7% were planning increases. According to the survey, the industries experiencing the most downturn appear to be construction and retail. Sixty percent of executives in construction were planning layoffs in the next 6 months, 34% are planning no changes and 4% plan to increase their workforce. In retail, 50% of executives are planning to decrease their workforce, 34% will have no change, and 10% will increase their number of workers. In the best performing industries, leisure and hospitality, 56% of executives are planning hiring increases, 28% are planning layoffs, and 16% are planning no changes.
San Francisco Business Times- November 20, 2008