SAN JOSE (KCBS) – California Governor Jerry Brown paid a visit to Silicon Valley on Tuesday as he and business leaders talked jobs, the economy and continued optimism for the future of the region.

At the Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s 9th Annual CEO Business Climate Summit, many leaders said they remain bullish about the region’s economy for the coming year.

But according to the annual CEO survey from the group, business leaders are not quite as optimistic as last year.

KCBS’ Matt Bigler Reports:

One of the top challenges is traffic congestion, which Brown said is an issue being addressed.

“Whether it’s bringing BART to San Jose, whether it’s high-speed rail, whether it’s electric cars,” Brown said. “The first electric cars are going to be rolling off the factory in Fremont in the next few months. There’s a lot of innovation.”

Brown also pledged to cut regulations, but will not offer tax breaks to companies because he said quite frankly, the state doesn’t have a lot of money.

Of the CEO’s surveyed, 46 percent said they intend to hire in 2012. Art Reidel, chairman of Eye-Fi in Mountain View, said they are definitely adding workers.

“A challenge for us is that the kind of people that we’re hiring are the same kinds of people that other companies are going after or hiring,” Reidel said.

Employee recruitment and retention were the top challenges identified by the CEO’s in addition to high housing costs and regulations.

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