More than half of the chief executives of large U.S. companies say they expect to spend and hire more during the next six months, despite slower economic growth. The Business Roundtable says that 51% of CEOs polled expect to increase hiring. Last quarter’s level of 52% had been the highest since the trade group began surveying its members in 2002. The survey began in mid-May and ended on June 3, the day the government released a May jobs report, which showed a steep pullback in hiring by employers. The unemployment rate rose to 9.1%. The survey drew responses from 135 CEOs.
Business Roundtable represents CEOs from the nation’s 200 largest companies, which have had “pretty steady” hiring plans in recent months, says the group’s chairman, Ivan Seidenberg, who is also the CEO of Verizon Communications Inc. Small businesses, on the other hand, have had a harder time accessing credit and have been much slower to add back jobs lost during the recession. A national survey of small business owners, also released today, shows declining optimism among owners of small businesses, the third straight monthly drop. According to the survey of 733 businesses by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, small businesses have added almost no jobs in the past three months, as sales remain weak and costs have risen.
Today’s poll question: Does your business expect to spend and hire more during the next six months?
