Sales Up, Hiring Flat

A group called the Young Presidents' Organization recently polled business executives on the trends they see developing in their companies over the next 12 months. Their answers help us see how the recovery can continue - albeit at its very slow pace - while unemployment is hardly moving at all.

Nearly 60 percent of the executives expect their sales to be up in the next year, while 34.5 percent think they'll remain the same. Less than 10 percent thought sales would be down. But only 30 percent expect their employee count to go up over the next 12 months; more than 60 percent expect it to remain the same. So many of those executives think sales will increase, but don't foresee extra hiring as a result.

It's interesting to note that this phenomenon isn't limited to the United States. The above figures are solely for the American executives surveyed, but in the YPO global survey, the results were similar. Globally, more than 61 percent of executives expect sales to be up in the next year, but only just over 30 percent expect to be adding to their employee count.