RESEARCH TRIANGLE, NC – If a survey of CEOs at large U.S. companies is an accurate guide, job seekers may have an easier time of it in the next six months. The Business Roundtable says 39 percent of the CEOs it surveyed at large American companies said they expect to hire in the next six months–the largest number since the second quarter of 2007.

Only 17 percent of the CEOs surveyed expected to cut jobs, while 43 percent said they expected no change.

“Our member CEOs plan to continue hiring and expect improved sales,” said Ivan G. Seidenberg, chair of Business Roundtable and chair and CEO of Verizon Communications. “That said, our CEOs are demonstrating some caution in the area of capital expenditures, with fewer planning to increase spending and more keeping it level.”

The Business Roundtable is an association of CEOs. Its survey of CEO members also predicts that the economy’s GDP will grow by 2.7 percent this year. The survey has shown predictive power in its forecasts of GDP growth in the past according to an independent study.

That 2.7 percent figure is certainly well out of the recessionary range, although it will likely need to rise to 3 percent or better before the economy actually feels as if it is really getting better.

Still, we think the news that many large firms plan to hire is some of the most positive economic news we’ve heard all year. It seems fairly clear that job growth is the real key to getting the U.S. economy fully back on track.