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

[girl gone mad]

Companies in U.S. More Upbeat on Sales Than Jobs, Surveys Show
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a4.6yEJJ6Prs&pos=4

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- 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.

“These results are in line with an anticipated slow and uneven recovery,” Ivan G. Seidenberg, chairman of the Business Roundtable and chief executive officer of New York-based Verizon Communications Inc., said on a conference call with reporters.

The reports indicate it will take time for the economy to recover the 7.2 million jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007, the worst employment slump in the post-World War II era. President Barack Obama today proposed new spending on the nation’s transportation system and tax credits to spur hiring by small businesses among a second round of initiatives aimed at cutting the jobless rate.

Sixty-eight percent of chief executive officers this quarter said they expect sales to grow, compared with 51 percent in the previous three months, the report from the Business Roundtable showed. The group is an association of CEOs of corporations representing a combined workforce of 12 million employees and almost $6 trillion in annual revenue. Nineteen percent said they planned on increasing headcount.

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The http://www.ism.ws/about/MediaRoom/NewsReleaseDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=19911">ISM survey also signals price deflation and inflation in job benefits costs, both of which will keep pressure on employment.

[Coyote_Bandit]

1. Of course it won't

but increasing sales and fewer workers will show a significant increase in productivity.

Maybe it's time somebody told the corporate boys that it really doesn't matter if they own the store and the bank if nobody else has the income to buy ther sh*t.

[clear eye]

2. Who's supposed to buy all their stuff?

I mean I can see a little boost to sales as families who can spend the money they've hoarded away all year for Christmas, but after that?