Respondents to the latest McKinsey Global Survey1 are more than twice as likely to say that their company will hire in the next six months as to say it will shrink its workforce. Among those who predict their workforce will grow, nearly 90 percent expect that most of those new hires will be working in newly created jobs (Exhibit 1). While companies continue to offshore, nearly two-thirds of respondents whose company plans to hire say that the majority of the new employees will be located in the same country as corporate headquarters, a figure that rises to 78 percent in North America.
The fairly buoyant hiring plans accompany a rise in executives' confidence in the overall economy (Exhibit 2). From June to September, oil prices fell, interest rates remained stable in most countries, and—in contrast to last year—no severe hurricanes struck the United States. Executives grew more confident in both the current conditions of and prospects for their national economy and their industry.2
Executives' sentiments about hiring are consistent across...