CEOs predict more hires

NEW YORK – More top corporate executives expect to hire workers and boost spending on their companies over the next six months.

A survey released Tuesday by Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of big U.S. companies, shows 45 percent of executives say they expect their companies to add more workers.

That’s the highest percentage who have said they planned to add jobs since the survey began in late 2002. Meanwhile, only 18 percent said they expected their work forces to shrink, one of the lowest readings over the past five years, and 38 percent predict no change.

That follows years of layoffs. Unemployment has jumped from 5 percent in December 2007, when the recession began, to 9.8 percent in November. The job market remains stressed. Hiring has picked up recently, but major U.S. corporations continue to slash jobs.

Yahoo Inc., for example, is reportedly planning to lay off 600 to 700 of its employees, about 4 percent of its work force.

While nearly six in 10 CEOs expect to bump up capital spending, another signal of confidence in the economy, and 80 percent expect sales growth, executives still thought the broader U.S. economy was struggling.

They said they expect the economy to grow just 2.5 percent in 2011.