Business Roundtable survey: More CEOs plan to add workers

Some 42 percent of CEOs say they plan to add employees in the United States over the next six months, according to a Business Roundtable survey of chief executives released today, Reuters reported. That’s 16 percent higher than the percentage of CEOs who were planning to expand their staffs last December.

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In addition, only 16 percent of chief executives plan to cut jobs in the next six months, Reuters reported.

The Business Roundtable’s quarterly survey also measures business leaders’ expectations for sales and capital spending, and 81 percent said they expect sales to increase in the next six months, up from 68 percent in the previous survey, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. Forty-eight percent of CEOs plan to increase capital spending.

"The US is picking up,” James McNerney, CEO of Boeing Co. and chairman of the Roundtable, explained in a conference call today, according to Reuters. “Europe is the one that is really headed to negative territory. While Asia and China are slowing down, they are still at a very high growth rate, and we need to hire people for to satisfy their demand."

According to the Street:

The group's outlook index jumped to 96.9 in the current January-March quarter. That's up from 77.9 in previous quarter and the highest reading since last spring.

The survey, conducted March 1-19, collected the views of 128 CEOs at US companies, Bloomberg Businessweek reported.

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