Nov. 3--Despite Los Angeles County's already record high unemployment, the job outlook is likely to get worse as the number of businesses that plan to layoff workers has more than doubled since last year, according to a new poll released today.

A survey by the Los Angeles County Business Federation says 33 percent of respondents said they would layoff workers in 2010, up from 14 percent who were asked last year.

"The economists in the (Capital) Beltway say the recession is over, but the pain is just beginning," David W. Fleming, chairman and founder of the three-year-old business group, said Monday.

"We think we have unemployment now. You wait and see in a year."

The survey covered 455 county businesses, from Fortune 500 firms to sole-proprietorships -- all members of the 72 chambers of commerce, trade associations and other groups that belong to BizFed. The poll, which has a margin of error of 5 percent to 6 percent, was taken from Sept. 15 to Oct. 6.

The findings document what some economists have already described as a jobless recovery.

David Grannis, chief executive of a Pasadena-based transportation consulting firm that participated in the survey, said he and his partner took 25 percent pay cuts and still shrank staff from seven to five, one by attrition and one by layoff.

"We'll have to see whether we have to let anyone else go," said Grannis. "It's a very difficult economy. The recovery part of it, for me anyway, is still in the wings. We haven't seen it yet."

The irony of such dire employment revelations, BizFed members said, is that the same survey found 44 percent of business owners have a positive outlook.

Tracy Rafter, chief executive officer of BizFed, called that dichotomy part of "a weird new world" of economics.

"It's a resetting -- and not economic recovery and business as usual," said Rafter. "People say that generally their business will get better next year... because they're still cutting costs.

"They're figuring out how to operate more lean in this economy and be competitive and stay that way."

Breakdowns for specific areas of the county, including the San Fernando Valley, will be released later, the group said.

Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said the BizFed report supports what his own group has been finding.

"It's in line with what we're hearing," said Kyser. "You have the various proclamations that the recession is over based on the third quarter jump in Gross Domestic Product.

"But if you get out and talk to businesses, a lot of the small to medium-sized businesses are complaining that they can't get a loan from the bank.