Sixteen percent of chief financial officers (CFOs) in the San Francisco Bay Area report their companies will be creating new jobs in the next six months, according to the San Francisco Bay Area Professional Employment Forecast From Robert Half. Seventy-seven percent of finance executives said they will be maintaining personnel levels, adding staff only to fill vacated positions. Seven percent of respondents will not be hiring, even to fill an open position.

The Professional Employment Forecast was developed by Robert Half, the world's first and largest specialized staffing firm, and conducted by an independent research firm. The local results are based on interviews with 100 CFOs from a stratified random sample of companies in the San Francisco Bay Area with 20 or more employees. Executives were asked about their hiring and business outlook, including plans to add professional-level employees, for example, staff in the accounting, human resources, administrative, legal, marketing and information technology fields.

CFOs were asked, "What are your company's hiring plans for full-time professional-level employees in the next six months?" Their responses:

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