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November 20, 2008

Oh Joy! More job cuts likely in the San Francisco Bay Area

Four out of 10 Bay Area employers contacted in a survey anticipate cutting jobs within six months, according to a dismal report on the region's business pulse being issued today.

This is what the San Francisco Chronicle is reporting. The story is based on a survey of 509 executives, conducted in the first week of November by the Bay Area Council. This survey found that:

Business confidence in the nine-county Bay Area had slumped to its lowest level since the group first began taking quarterly readings in the summer of 2001.

And:

"The turmoil in the financial markets has spilled over into how Bay Area businesses see their own situations," said council Chairman Lenny Mendonca, a director at McKinsey & Co.

"Unfortunately, layoffs often follow on the heels of pessimism, and I think we may see bad get worse," council President Jim Wunderman said in a statement.

The Bay Area Council is a business group whose members employ about 500,000 people, roughly one-sixth of the region's private-sector workforce. Its quarterly reports are authoritative snapshots rather than statistically valid surveys.

More dreary news on the GEC (Global Economic Crisis) and TNU (The New Uncertainty) front. Well, I guess if lose my job, I'll have more time to work on Crazy in Suburbia--to the consternation, no doubt, of a few of the few readers I have so far.

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