NEW YORK — More than half of the chief executives of large U.S. companies said they expect to spend and hire more over the next six months despite slower economic growth.
The Business Roundtable said Tuesday that 51 percent of CEOs polled expect to increase hiring. Last quarter’s level of 52 percent had been the highest since the trade group began surveying its members in 2002.
But in another sign that the economic recovery has lost whatever momentum it had, more small businesses say they are planning to shrink payrolls than want to expand them. That is according to a new report released Tuesday by the National Federation of Independent Business, a trade group that regularly surveys its membership of small businesses across America.
The federation’s report for May showed the worst hiring prospects in eight months.
The finding provides a glimpse into the pessimism of the nation’s small firms as they put together their budgets for the coming season and depicts a more gloomy outlook than other recent (if equally lackluster) economic indicators because this one is forward-looking. Denver Post news services
