A week before the U.S. Labor Department releases February 2006 employment figures, corporate CEOs belonging to the Washington, D.C.-based Business Roundtable "have the strongest employment expectations since we began [our] CEO survey in 2002," relates Henry McKinnell, chairman and CEO of Pfizer Inc. and chairman of the Business Roundtable.
Forty-three percent of the chief executives included in the Roundtable's most recent survey expect to add employees to their U.S. operations during the next six months. Only 15% expect to cut employment. Forty-two percent anticipate no change.
Despite continuing high energy prices, 85% of the Roundtable CEOs expect their companies' sales to increase during the next six months; only 2% expect a decline.
