SAN JOSE, Calif., April 13 (UPI) -- Consumer confidence in California's Silicon Valley, which had been rattled by the sudden downturn in the dot-com industry, appeared to be on a modest rebound Saturday, according to a new survey released by San Jose State University.
The university's Survey and Policy Research Institute found a slim majority of those surveyed felt the national and regional economies would be on the upswing in the near future, although prospects for an increase in employment were considered less promising and a vast majority had no plans to purchase real estate in the near future.
"People here see the national economy recovering, but they are more circumspect about prospects for Silicon Valley," SPRI Director Philip Trounstine said in a release Saturday. "They are still shaken by layoffs, collapsing profits and plant closures in the high-tech world; their optimism is justly tempered."
According to the survey of some 1,000 residents who presently reside in the high-tech corridor, 63 percent felt the overall U.S. economy was improving, but only 53.6 percent predicted an improvement in the regional economy.
Thirty-one percent of those surveyed, however, were resigned to seeing employment in the area drop further while 36.8 percent predicted a static unemployment rate; only 28.4 percent were optimistic that the employment market would increase.
"It has been tough, but I think things are opening up," Revathi Viswanathan, a 25-year-old job seeking a job in human resources, told the San Jose Mercury News. "I see a lot more human resources positions opening up on the Web and in newspapers."
Although a majority of respondents did not expect a new employment boom in the valley, the vast majority of those with jobs expressed confidence that their personal economic situations would either improve or at least remain the same in the coming year; Fewer than 8 percent feared that their incomes could decrease.
A gradual improvement in Silicon Valley's economy was considered unlikely to revive the hot real estate boom triggered by nouveau dot-com millionaires plunking down vast sums of cash in order to secure a home in either the valley or the highly desirable nearby city of San Francisco.
While 68.5 percent opined that the "dot-bomb" recession had made it more of an opportune time to purchase a home at a more reasonable price, only 6.6 percent said they were considering a home purchase in the next three months.
"People recognize that the recession has made major purchases attractive, but they aren't much in the buying mood," Trounstine declared. "That's likely a reflection of their uncertainty about how quickly the regional economy will recover."
(Reported by Hil Anderson, Los Angeles)
