The current economic expansion has been characterised by a 'normal' recovery in revenues, an exceptional rise in profits off a low base (see Weekly Chart), and a persistent belief by companies that they can meet expected demand with only modest additions to their labor force. A recent Wall Street Journal article reports: "Chief financial officers at large North American companies polled by Deloitte LLP said it take a 20% surge in revenue before they felt comfortable adding to their payrolls [and yet] respondents estimate top line growth at North American companies will be just 8.2% this year." If accurate, we find this rather remarkable since our chart clearly shows that revenue growth of 8.2% is healthy by the standards of the last 20 years, but it speaks to the determination of US companies to remain competitive. We suspect that for employment to improve substantially smaller companies' confidence in the domestic economy will need to improve, and we believe this will be a slow process.

David Fuller's view The current economic expansion has been characterised by a 'normal' recovery in revenues, an exceptional rise in profits off a low base (see Weekly Chart), and a persistent belief by companies that they can meet expected demand with only modest additions to their labor force. A recent Wall Street Journal article reports: "Chief financial officers at large North American companies polled by Deloitte LLP said it take a 20% surge in revenue before they felt comfortable adding to their payrolls [and yet] respondents estimate top line growth at North American companies will be just 8.2% this year." If accurate, we find this rather remarkable since our chart clearly shows that revenue growth of 8.2% is healthy by the standards of the last 20 years, but it speaks to the determination of US companies to remain competitive. We suspect that for employment to improve substantially smaller companies' confidence in the domestic economy will need to improve, and we believe this will be a slow process