Survey Shows Most Companies With Sales Under $1 Billion May Hire

By Will Edwards

March 9, 2004  (Bloomberg) -- Most U.S. companies with sales of $1million to $1 billion expect to add workers during the next 12months, according to a survey by TEC International, an executive development firm.

Of 1,091 respondents to the poll, 62 percent said they would add jobs, up from 61 percent in the previous survey in December. A third forecast their employment would hold steady, with 6 percent predicting more job cuts. Annual revenues at TEC member Companies range from $1 million to $1 billion.

The economy will be front and center in this year's presidential election, 70 percent of the executives said. U.S. payrolls rose by only 21,000 workers in February, less than the 130,000 media forecast. Chief executives from the biggest companies have continued to put off hiring, leaving it to smaller firms to boost the nation's employment rolls.

"Smaller companies are more nimble and they're able to grown and shrink faster than big companies,'' said Mike Crawford, Chief Executive Officer of Sukut Construction Inc. in Santa Ana, California, in an interview. "As the economy grows, they're in the best position to hire.''

Of the corporate executives surveyed, 57 percent said they would add full-time positions within 12 months, compared with 26 percent planning to add both full- and part-time jobs and 2 percent restricting their additions to merely part-time work.

Sukut Construction is planning to add both salaried and union hourly workers this year as the company expands into the residential housing market north of Los Angeles, said Crawford, who participated in the survey.

Job Breakdowns

Asked what kinds of positions they would add, almost half said new jobs would be in sales and marketing. The other responses included 21 percent saying they would add management jobs, 30 percent planning to add professional staff such as human resources and information-technology, 35 percent expecting new construction workers or other trades people, and 29 percent predicting administrative or clerical support.

A minority of the CEOs, about 21 percent, predicted that they would move some jobs overseas over the same time period. About 12 percent said that manufacturing jobs would be off- shored, while information-technology, sales, customer support and other functions made up the difference.

About three-quarters of the CEOs surveyed projected their company's profits would improve during the next 12 months, with 83 percent counting on an increase in sales. Those figures were close to unchanged from the December survey.

As far as their own perceptions of the economy's future, the percentage of CEOs expecting conditions to improve fell to 70 percent in the survey from 81 percent in the December survey.

"Although firms did expect a slightly slower pace of growth, they still judge overall economic conditions quite favorable,'' said Richard Curtin, a consultant to the TEC survey and director of the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey since 1976.

Three-quarters of the CEOs said they would vote for incumbent President George W. Bush, compared with 16 percent for Democrat John F. Kerry, the Massachusetts senator who will challenge Bush in November. The survey was conducted from Feb. 23 to March 1, before Democratic North Carolina Senator John Edwards bowed out of the race. Edwards garnered 6 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Will Edwards in Atlanta at (1)(404) 507-1313 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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