Business Roundtable Sees More Hiring Optimism

New York, NY, April 7, 2010--More CEOs expect to be adding jobs than cutting jobs, the first time sentiment has been this positive in two years.

A survey by Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of big U.S. companies, says 29 percent of chief executives expect to increase corporate payrolls over the next six months, while 21 percent predict that their work forces will shrink. Half see no change in jobs.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, only 19 percent expected their payrolls would grow.

Nearly half -- 47 percent -- of the CEOs surveyed said they will increase capital spending in the next six months, up from 40 percent in the fourth quarter.

The CEOs predict the economy will grow 2.3 percent for 2010 after shrinking 2.4 percent in 2009. In the fourth quarter of last year, the economy grew at a 5.6 percent annual pace.