But Wong, president of JA Food Service, isn’t convinced the economy is improving. He knows he’ll have to keep menu prices down to attract the budget-conscious. Unemployment still exceeds 11 percent in Redding.
“We’ll probably have 1,000 apply” for jobs, Wong says. The January jobs report is “going to get everybody excited. But we’ve heard it before. It just comes back down.”
Farther south, the economy is only starting to improve in California’s Riverside and San Bernardino counties, an area that was clobbered when housing prices plunged.
“We still have large numbers of foreclosures on the books, and property values and sales taxes are also lagging behind projections,” says Tom Freeman, a Riverside County commissioner.
At least, Freeman says, businesses that sell goods overseas have been a bright spot.
In downtown Indianapolis, Windsor Jewelry hired a part-time worker for the holidays, then made him full-time as demand held up. Owner Greg Bires says he might hire another person this year. Business is a little steadier now.
Still, rising gold prices have pinched the company.
“That’s been the biggest problem — just not knowing what tomorrow was going to bring,” Bires says. “So we’ve been kind of afraid to make any major changes.”
Among the highest-profile skeptics of an
Read More from the Article Source: Full Article
