Fewer US CEOs expect hiring dip over next 6 months

 
No Author Published: December 12, 2012    Comment on this article Leave a comment

photo - In this Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 photo taken in Walpole, Mass., an advertisement in the classified section of the Boston Herald newspaper calls attention to possible employment opportunities. A survey of U.S. chief executives shows the number of large companies that plan to add jobs or hire more workers is essentially unchanged versus three months ago, although fewer expect hiring to decrease. The Business Roundtable said Wednesday. Dec 12, that 29 percent of its member CEOs plan to increase hiring over the next six months, but only 29 percent expect hiring to decrease versus 34 percent in the previous report. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
In this Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 photo taken in Walpole, Mass., an advertisement in the classified section of the Boston Herald newspaper calls attention to possible employment opportunities. A survey of U.S. chief executives shows the number of large companies that plan to add jobs or hire more workers is essentially unchanged versus three months ago, although fewer expect hiring to decrease. The Business Roundtable said Wednesday. Dec 12, that 29 percent of its member CEOs plan to increase hiring over the next six months, but only 29 percent expect hiring to decrease versus 34 percent in the previous report. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

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Some 58 percent of CEOs expect their companies' sales will increase over the next six months, unchanged from the previous quarter. The share of executives expecting sales to decline edged higher to 17 percent from 15 percent.

Only 30 percent of CEOs anticipate they will increase their investment in capital goods such as machinery, computers or other equipment. That's unchanged from the third quarter's survey, while 23 percent project a decline in capital investment, up from 19 percent in the previous quarter. Companies usually make capital investment when they are expanding.

The Roundtable combines CEOs' survey responses on sales, capital spending and hiring into an index gauging the executives' overall economic outlook. The latest index was 65.6, a slight dip from 66.0 in the third quarter, but down sharply from 89.1 in the second quarter.

An index reading lower than 50 is consistent with a shrinking economy, while a reading above 50 indicates the economy is expanding.

Even so, McNerney noted that the latest reading is at its lowest level since the third quarter of 2009, when the economy was just emerging from recession.

The Business Roundtable represents the CEOs of the 200 largest U.S. corporations. The survey results are based on 143 responses received between Nov. 12 and Nov. 30.

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