Just days after ExecuNet research confirmed that US employers were poised to add more executive management jobs than they planned to eliminate in May, a Gallup survey finds that more of the 16,395 US workers it polled are themselves building their teams versus reducing headcount across all levels of the workforce.

In May, ExecuNet research reveals, the number of companies adding new executive roles and "trading up" with new hires for existing management jobs was 28 points higher than the number actively thinning out their management teams.

In fact, May ranked as the fifth consecutive month in which executive jobs were created, following a period of significant retrenchment by US employers and a difficult period for executive staffing levels.

Gallup finds that 28 percent of its survey respondents saw their companies hiring in May, while 21 percent say their organizations were still letting people go, a gain of three points from Gallup's April survey.

Gallup reports the broader recovery of US jobs was taking place across the country, as each region posted better hiring figures than firing data. The South, defined in its poll as stretching from Virginia and Kentucky to Florida and through Oklahoma and Texas, posted the best numbers, with hiring companies outpacing downsizing ones by 10 points.

As the US economy continues to recover, however, we shouldn't be surprised if companies remain cautious about hiring and, in some cases, defer to contract employees to hedge their bets against what remains a volatile economic climate.

Joseph Daniel McCool
Joseph Daniel McCool is senior contributing editor with ExecuNet and principal of management recruiting/succession advisory firm The McCool Group. He is also the author of Deciding Who Leads: How Executive Recruiters Drive, Direct & Disrupt the Global Search for Leadership Talent, recognized widely as "one of the best business books of 2008," and its Brazilian Portuguese translation, Escolhendo Líderes, published in June 2010.

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