Businesses Expecting To Grow As Economy Improves
A new survey finds that Los Angeles County employers are optimistic about growth opportunities and planning to expand in the near future. The Los Angeles County Business Federation survey, conducted among 135 member organizations online from March 3 to April 15, received responses from just under 600 individual participants. The poll showed 66% of participants think business conditions will be better in 2015 than 2014. Almost 25% expressed plans to expand in California, up from less than 20% in 2014. About 40% of employers are expecting to hire additional staff in 2015, a 10% increase from 2014. However, this is less than the 59% of companies planning to spend capital on goods like technology. Federation founding CEO Tracy Rafter explained to the Los Angeles Times, “hiring, which is a bit better, is not where things are growing – they’re growing in technology. People cost so much more than technology over time.”
A reflection of the reluctance to hire staff rather than technologies to deliver goods was shown in the survey respondents’ indication that of the cities in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles itself is the least business-friendly. Rafter suggested that businesses could have this mindset because “they’re running into these stifling roadblocks where the permitting process is slow and cumbersome.” Investments in technology, for instance, could make it easier for businesses to conduct most of their operations from outside the Los Angeles area in addition to making them more mobile within the city.
What This Means For Small Businesses
Small business owners in the Los Angeles area may be favoring capital spending on technology rather than employees due to factors including labor costs and a patchwork of local, state, and federal regulations that have made the area less business-friendly.
