By : Darrell Smith
Source : http://www.sacbee.com
Category : Small Business Grant
A majority of small-business executives remain pessimistic about California's prospects, weighed down by concern about the economy, education and health care, a new survey found.
Nearly two-thirds of executives surveyed by Small Business California, a San Francisco advocacy group, said the state is headed in the wrong direction.
Fifty-six percent of respondents said they think California's economy will either remain unchanged or grow worse in the next three years.
"Clearly, they don't think the climate is very good," said Scott Hauge, Small Business California president. "The silver lining is that it's a little better than last year."
Small-business owners' pessimism reached its height in the 2009 survey, when more than 80 percent of respondents said California was on the wrong course.
That sentiment has steadily decreased in the three polls since, and some businesses are hopeful amid the anxiety.
About 41 percent said California's small-business climate will improve in the next few years, while 31 percent said they planned to hire in the next six months.
But this year's survey of nearly 1,200 executives showed small-business people still feel they have a lot to worry about.
Nearly nine in 10 say they want state legislators to make reforming California's health care system a high or top priority.
About two-thirds said fixing the state's educational system should demand the most lawmaker attention.
And, though 80 percent of small-business leaders said they expected to be in business in California in three years, one in five said they did not.
"That's a high number. These are the job creators," Hauge said. "That's troubling."
View the complete survey at www.smallbusinesscalifornia.org.
Source : http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/14/4335053/california-survey-finds-small.html
