Small-Business Owners Optimistic About '04

SAN FRANCISCO-This year will be better than last, according to an annual statewide survey of 1,400 California small-business owners that was released Wednesday by the locally based Union Bank of California. Completed in January, 72% of respondents are expecting this year to be an overall better year than last year, and 37% are expecting to increase their staffing levels.

Despite the optimism, nearly half of the respondents stated California’s current economic climate is one of their key concerns, and about a third commented that rising health care costs and state and local business regulations are additional pressing challenges for their business.

Issues surrounding workers’ compensation and healthcare insurance continue to be a chief concern of most small-business owners: 65% of businesses polled identified the rising cost of workers’ compensation insurance as one of their top challenges of owning a business in California. And of the 52% currently offering health benefits to employees, 21% said they shifted a higher portion of healthcare costs to their employees last year; 12% reduced health benefits.