Seattle Chamber survey finds businesses optimistic of their prospects in spite of a tough economy.

A Seattle
Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce survey of 1,700 business operators
in King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap counties concludes that while businesses are generally pessimistic about the broader economy, they are more optimistic about their own prospects.

The results of the survey mirror those from a survey of manufacturers released last year by Impact Washington in which companies were substantially more upbeat about their own future than that of the rest of the economy.

About 43 percent said they expected their prospects to improve over the next year, yet only 34 percent said they intended to add to their workforce. About 12 percent said they were likely to shrink their workforce.

Among the other survey results:

* Small companies
with 6 to 100 employees are most likely to hire.
* Companies in the energy, aerospace and manufacturing, life
sciences, and information technology and interactive media sectors reported plans to add workers.
* One in four
employers reported that they had to recruit outside of their county to attract top
talent.
* Respondents generally appreciated the high quality of life in the four-county region. They placed a particularly high priority on the region’s universities,
networking opportunities and transportation infrastructure.
* Women- and
minority-owned businesses made up a low percentage of employers in high growth
sectors, such as manufacturing, energy and environment, and life sciences, but were well represented in real estate, human
services, education, retail, food and professional services.
* 79 percent of respondents recommended employees have a college education. Those respondents were particularly concentrated in the life sciences, international trade, human services,
education, professional services, health care and energy sectors. About 60 percent said vocational training would be helpful, particularly employers in such sectors as energy, tourism and
recreation, transportation, aerospace and manufacturing, and real estate and
construction sectors seemed content with candidates with vocational training.

The report’s recommendations included the following: streamline regulatory processes, stabilize
health insurance costs, create zoning policies to help niche industries and
reform small business taxes.