A widely followed gauge of San Diego’s business activity signaled renewed strength in March after an unexpected drop the previous month.
The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce said Tuesday its Business Outlook Index rose to the highest level in almost a year, and now stands above its historical average.
“As we continue to watch the labor trends among our region’s businesses, we see that hiring has recovered from last month’s drop and moves back to more positive territory where it started this year,” said Dino D’Auria, executive vice president and chief banking officer at Silvergate Bank, sponsor of the index.
“We also see the manufacturing sector leading all industries, a marked improvement for that cluster as they have not historically had the most optimistic outlooks,” he added.
After a dramatic drop of more than 5 points last month, the index now stands at 26.9, above the long-term average of 25.3.