Study: SoCal Firms Cut Hiring Plans As Double-Dip Recession Already Here
LOS ANGELES (CBS) - Less than a quarter of Southland business owners and executives plan to ramp up hiring in coming weeks as more companies are losing hope of any robust economic recovery, according to
survey results released Thursday.
The findings arose from a survey of the 92 member organizations belonging to the Los Angeles County Business Federation, or BizFed, including chambers of commerce, trade associations, minority business groups, business improvement districts and other business entities.
"L.A. County business owners' and executives' optimism about the future for their small businesses, companies and hiring has plunged in the past eight months," BizFed said in a statement.
The study showed 31 percent of its members expect the economy to improve in the next six months, marking "a significant drop from the nearly two-thirds of those surveyed at the beginning of the year who were optimistic about the future."
The online survey conducted between Sept. 6 and Oct.7 also found that only one in five businesses -- 21 percent -- may grow their workforce in the next few months, "another significant drop from 33 percent who felt that way eight months ago."
"This is an alarming and sobering call from L.A. County's job creators that the struggle to stay afloat is getting sharply more difficult," BizFed Chair Mark Wilbur said.
"Small business owners have seen virtually no improvements this year, and the outlook for the future is for more of the same. It raises serious questions about how much longer many businesses can hold on," he added.
The survey found that 69 percent of respondents now are forecasting zero growth in their workforce in the next six months -- up sharply from 41 percent eight months ago.
The one bright spot in the survey is that only one in 10 respondents plan workforce reductions in the near future, down from one in five earlier this year, according to BizFed.
"Lack of market certainty, the regulatory environment, tax and fee burdens, borrowing impediments and the enormous deficits threatening government at all levels are making future economic recovery more and more distant," BizFed Founding Chair David Fleming said.
"Many have told us at BizFed that, for them, a double-dip recession has already arrived."
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