NORTH HAMPTON, N.H. -- Close to half of U.S. executives and managers expect to hire more employees in the next 12 months, a poll by New Hampshire-based NFI Research shows.
Forty-four percent of senior executives and managers said they expect the overall number of employees in their organization to increase in the next 12 months. In 2003, 42 percent of respondents forecast an increase in employees.
This year, 37 percent expect the number of employees to stay the same while 19 percent expect the number to decrease, about the same as last year. More managers (29 percent) than senior executives (10 percent) expect the overall number of employees to decrease in the next 12 months.
The top reasons senior executives and managers expect the number of employees in their organization to increase, decrease, or stay the same are an increase in business (43 percent), current economic conditions (36 percent), and industry conditions (31 percent). The top three conditions cited in 2003 were current economic conditions (39 percent), business increase (37 percent), and industry conditions (35 percent).
