U.S. business journalists - who keep their fingers on the economic pulse of their local communities - said they expected business conditions in their areas to improve in the next six months, according to a new survey commissioned by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism.

In a phone survey of 300 business journalists conducted nationwide in mid-July, many described their local economies as suffering:

- One in three said business conditions were bad.

- Four out of 10 said jobs were hard to get.

But they expressed optimism that their local economies would improve, with only 6 percent saying they expected things to worsen in six months.

When asked about their local housing market, one in four said the residential real estate market was better now than six months ago. Only one in 10 thought it would be worse in six months.

Conditions were toughest in the West, where half the business journalists said their local economies were bad and jobs were hard to get.

In Seattle, economics columnist Jon Talton of The Seattle Times said business conditions are mixed. "Apartment construction is rebounding: I can see four cranes out my window for high-rises now," he said, but "many small businesses continue to struggle with weak consumer spending and tight credit."

Pamela Yip, personal finance writer for The Dallas Morning News, agreed on the mixed picture. "Dallas-Fort Worth added more jobs than any other U.S. metro area during the six months ending in June," she said. "But…unemployment is 3.6 percentage points higher than it was three years ago."