Most CEOs in the U.S. are expecting a recession — but they aren't bracing too tightly, a survey reported by The Wall Street Journal suggests.
The Journal referred to a survey of more than 1,100 executives, including 670 CEOs, by the business research nonprofit Conference Board.
Ninety-eight percent of CEOs in the U.S. said they expect a "short and shallow" recession, Dana Peterson, the Conference Board's chief economist, told the Journal. The majority of leaders (excluding those in China and Japan) expect economic growth to bounce back by late 2023 or the first half of 2024.
Since the labor market is historically tight and executives do not expect the recession to last long, they are approaching it differently, according to the survey. Rather than hiring freezes and layoffs, CEOs plan to weather the storm with innovation, higher-growth business lines, new pricing strategies, marketing investments, and administrative and discretionary spending cuts.