Confidence among large US employers has surged in the past three months, as an accelerating vaccine rollout and Joe Biden’s $1.9tn stimulus package combine to boost companies’ willingness to hire and invest.
A quarterly poll of chief executives by the Business Roundtable, Washington’s leading big-business lobby group, reported a 21 point jump in its economic outlook index since December. The index’s new reading of 107 is far above both the 50-point level that indicates growth and the historical average of 82.
The rebound was “among the sharpest and quickest recoveries in optimism in the history of our survey”, said Josh Bolten, the BRT’s chief executive, noting that it had taken eight quarters from the trough during the 2008-2009 financial crisis for the index to get back to a similar level of optimism.
The advance in the BRT survey came on the heels of other reports showing confidence rising across US industry. The National Association of…