Survey says economy improving, but slowly
The U.S. economy continues to improve at a slow rate, and more companies plan to add jobs, according to the latest industry survey released by the National Association for Business Economics.
“NABE’s January 2010 industry survey provides new evidence that the U.S. recovery from the Great Recession continues, albeit at a slow pace,” said William Strauss of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Sixty-one percent of respondents said real gross domestic product will expand by more than 2.0% in 2010, up from 45% of respondents in the last quarterly survey in October.
In addition, job losses slowed with 28% of firms cutting jobs in the January survey compared with 31% in the last survey released in October. And the percentage of firms expecting to add jobs over the next six months rose to 29% in the January survey from 24% in the October survey.
The January survey took place between Dec. 18 and Jan. 7 and included 75 members of NABE.
Source: Staffing Industry Analysts, 2010