A majority of local business owners surveyed in January indicated they expect increased revenue during the first quarter of 2016, according to the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce‘s monthly survey.
“Despite the rough start to 2016 we saw in the stock market, businesses in San Diego County have remained positive and are anticipating a fairly good first quarter of the year,” said Dino D’Auria, executive vice president and chief banking officer at Silvergate Bank, sponsor of the monthly Business Outlook Index.
Just over 200 randomly selected chamber members around San Diego County were surveyed late in January, and were asked whether — over the next three months — their business will increase or decrease its number of employees, experience an increase or a decrease in revenue, increase or decrease the number of hours its employees work, and experience an improvement or a worsening of business conditions.
Answers were scored on a range from minus-100 to plus-100, with zero being neutral. The cumulative results for January were 25, the highest since June.
The index stood at 17 as recently as November.
The results showed that 55 percent of businesses expected revenues to grow and 37 percent planned to increase work hours.
City News Service contributed to this article.
