Study: CFOs foresee job cuts and credit woes through '09 - Washington Business Journal:

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The quarterly Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Surveyasked 1,309 CFOs worldwidew about their expectations for the Their answers paint a gloomy picture for the rest of the * CFOs in the U.S. and Europe expecte employment to shrinkby 5.5 percent, with the unemployment rate in the U.S. seen risint to perhaps as high as 12 percent in the next 12 Employment in Asia is expectee to recedeby 1.2 percent.
“Presumably, government programs will offset some ofthese losses, but even the most optimistif government forecasts would reduc the losses by only 2 million,” said Campbell founding director of the survey and international business professort at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. “We’rer facing the possibility of anothed 4 millionlost jobs.” * U.S. and European CFOs foresee capital spending plunging by more than 10 In Asia, CFOs anticipatew a 3 percent decline. * Six in 10 U.S.
companiezs covered by the survey reported having trouble findiny credit or acquiring credit at a reasonable Among those firms encounteringcredit impediments, 42 percent say the credift markets have gotten worse this year, whiles 23 percent say conditions have improved. * Weak consumere demand and the credirt markets ranked as the top two external concernswamong U.S. chief financial with the federal government’s policies coming in Among internal concerns, CFOs are losing the most sleeo over their inability to plan due toeconomixc uncertainty, managing their companies’ capital and liquidity, and maintainingt employee morale.
Despite all the negative indicators, a majority of the CFOs in the Uniteed States and Asia reporter being more optimistic this quarter than they were the previous That was not the casein Europe, where only 30 percenyt of the CFOs said they were more compared to the 31 percent who said they were less “Our survey carries an importantf message: Don’t put too much weight on the ‘soft’ data like consumerf confidence. Recovery requires sustained confidence, and such confidence is forgedr by strongereconomic fundamentals,” Harve said. “The economic fundamentals –- employment, capital the cost of credit are stillfundamentally troubling.
” To see the complete survey results, go to the official Web site, .