CALIFORNIA : SOUTHLAND FOCUS : Survey Finds Less Optimism in O.C.

Orange County’s top executives are less optimistic about the local economy than they have been in recent years, according to a new UC Irvine study. About 63% of the executives surveyed said they expect their businesses to add workers, buy new equipment or expand their plants over the next five years, the UC Irvine annual executive survey found. That is the lowest percentage since 1992. Last year, 83% of respondents said they intended to expand their companies. About one-third of the executives said they intend to add new workers this year, down from nearly two-thirds last year. O.C. companies reported less robust growth for 1998 than for the previous year, according to the annual survey, which began in 1987. Fifty-nine percent of managers said their businesses’ financial condition had improved in 1998, compared with 70% for 1997. Eleven percent said their businesses had fared worse in 1998 than in 1997, the first time in five years that the percentage reporting a worse year-over-year performance hit double digits. The study is based on phone interviews with executives from 301 companies and was conducted between May 5 and June 10.