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Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Survey: Companies More Upbeat on Sales, Negative on Jobs

by Calculated Risk on 12/08/2009 04:06:00 PM

From Bloomberg: Companies in U.S. More Upbeat on Sales Than Jobs, Surveys Show

Chief executive officers, supply managers and small business leaders in the U.S. said a pickup in sales next year will not lead to a surge in hiring, surveys showed.

Three times as many company chiefs anticipate sales will grow over the next six months than project payrolls will climb, according to a survey by the Washington-based Business Roundtable. A poll by the Institute for Supply Management found service companies, which account for almost 90 percent of the economy, forecast additional job cuts in 2010.
Here is the Business Roundtable CEO survey. Of the CEOs surveyed, 68% percent sales to increase over the next 6 months, but only 19% thought their U.S. employment would increase (compared to 31% who thought their employment would decrease).

Here is the ISM survey: Economic Recovery Continues in 2010. On service employment:
For 2010, 15 percent of respondents expect higher levels of employment, 27 percent anticipate lower levels, and 58 percent expect their employment levels to be unchanged.
This shows that hiring plans are still weak, although the recent Manpower survey showed some improvement in hiring plans.