Confidence among San Diego County businesses dropped to a new low in August, according to a monthly index tracked by the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.
“While we continue to see an overall regression in optimism over the last two years, we remain positive in our overall outlook on the economy,” said Dino D’Auria, Chief Banking Officer at Silvergate Bank, which sponsors the index.
“One area where we will hopefully see some improvement is workforce hours as seasonal holiday jobs could lift that indicator and provide some much needed optimism to the overall outlook,” D’Auria added.
Some of the downturn in confidence was attributed to businesses offering fewer work hours to employees as summer ends.
The index was 15.6 in August, which is still in positive territory. The monthly index ranges from -100 to +100, with zero being neutral.