For the second quarter in a row, executives' overall confidence in economic conditions has risen (Exhibit 1), and hiring plans are robust, especially at the smallest companies. Even so, the overall economic outlook six months out is a bit less positive.

As a whole, this survey reflects a fairly positive steady state. More executives plan to change the size of the workforce over the next six months than had plans to change it six months ago, with a bigger bump in hiring: 44 percent now (compared with 35 percent then) say they plan to increase their workforce, while 20 percent (compared with 18 percent) say they plan to decrease it.

Notably, the smallest companies in the survey are the most enthusiastic about hiring: 53 percent of companies with annual revenue below $10 million plan to hire, versus 31 percent of companies with $30 billion or more in revenues. These small companies have become increasingly likely to hire over the past six months. The differences are even more striking among the executives who plan to decrease the size of their workforce: 32 percent of those at the largest companies plan to do so, as opposed to only 5 percent of those...