US companies report rising sales, employment in 2Q

DETROIT — Rising sales helped boost hiring and wages at U.S. businesses in the second quarter, and companies are optimistic that the trends will continue this fall, according to a new survey by the National Association for Business Economics.

Fifty-seven percent of the 85 respondents to the quarterly survey said sales at their companies rose in the April-June period. That was up from 53 percent in the first quarter and 35 percent in the same period a year ago. Just 5 percent of firms said sales fell during the second quarter.

Respondents also said the outlook for the July-October period is strong. Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they expect sales to increase during the third quarter, and just 1 percent expects sales to decline. Respondents from the finance, insurance and real estate sector were most optimistic about sales increases, while the service sector lagged.

As sales picked up, so did hiring. Thirty-six percent of firms said they hired more workers during the second quarter, up from 28 percent in the first quarter and 29 percent in the second quarter of 2013.

The employment outlook was steady, with 37 percent of respondents expecting their companies to hire more workers in the July-October period. Finance, insurance and real estate companies were most likely to say they expect employment increases, at 48 percent; service companies were the least likely, at 28 percent. Less than 10 percent of respondents expect employment declines in the third quarter.

For the first time since October 2012, no respondents reported falling wages. Forty-three percent said their firms raised wages during the second quarter, which was than double the share that reported raising wages during the same time period a year ago. More than one-third of respondents — 35 percent — expected wages to continue to increase in the third quarter.

Hiring and wage increases hit companies' profits. Just 27 percent of respondents said their firms' profit margins rose in the second quarter, down from 32 percent in the first quarter. Despite the slowdown, manufacturers and financial companies both said they expect margins to grow at a faster pace in the third quarter.

Some companies improved their margins by raising prices. Twenty-five percent of respondents said their businesses raised prices in the second quarter, up from 20 percent in the two previous quarters. Eight percent said prices fell, up from 3 percent in the first quarter.

Technology and communications companies and manufacturers said prices were up during the quarter, while service companies and finance companies said prices were softer. Nearly three-quarters of respondents expect no change in the prices their firms will charge in the third quarter.

The quarterly survey by NABE is intended to gauge business conditions at members' firms or industries. Almost half the respondents are from companies with more than 1,000 employees.

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