More of America’s largest companies intend to shrink their staffs than plan to hire in the next six months, according to the latest survey of their CEOs.
Nineteen percent of the CEOs expect to expand their work forces, while 31 percent predict a decrease in the next six months, according to a survey from the Business Roundtable released Tuesday. That’s better than the 13 percent who expected increased hiring three months earlier. At that time, 40 percent forecast cuts.
Illustrating the difficulty job-seekers are facing, meanwhile, a separate report from the Labor Department showed there were about 6.3 unemployed people, on average, for each job opening in October. That’s up from about 6.1 in September and compares with 1.7 jobless workers per opening in December 2007, when the recession began.
In more positive news, the group’s fourth-quarter economic outlook index — a combination of expectations for spending, sales and hiring — rose to 71.5, from 44.9 in the third quarter. Numbers above 50 suggest economic growth. It was the first time the index rose above 50 since the third quarter of 2008, just before the financial crisis struck with force.
Economists say employment at large firms is likely to remain flat through much of 2010.
“You’d have to have a big change in their operating assumptions for those numbers to move,” said Brian Bethune, an economist with IHS Global Insight. “We’re in very much of a holding pattern for 2010.”
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