WASHINGTON 鈥� Economic optimism surrounding Donald Trump鈥檚 inauguration as the 45th president isn鈥檛 confined to a surging stock market.
Locally, the businessman-turned-president’s ascendance has a plurality of executives believing he will be good for their businesses.
According to a , 44 percent of 161 CEOs and other C-level executives think Trump would have a positive effect on their businesses, more than twice as many as those who expect a negative impact.
They鈥檙e also upbeat about the D.C. area鈥檚 economic future: 72 percent of those surveyed say the economy is strong, and more than half say it鈥檚 only going to get stronger (i.e., be better six months from now).
鈥淎 lot of the government contractors are waiting to see where the money will flow,鈥� Douglas Fruehling, editor-in-chief of the Washington Business Journal, said on 草莓传媒. 鈥淏ut we have at least half of CEOs expecting to hire in the next six months.鈥�
Those surveyed who anticipate growth plan to add the following types of positions:
- Office support 鈥� 39 percent
- Sales 鈥� 36 percent
- Business/financial 鈥� 32 percent
- Service 鈥� 27 percent
- Construction/maintenance 鈥� 26 percent
- Managers (non-STEM) 鈥� 24 percent
- Computer workers 鈥� 23 percent
- Engineers 鈥� 21 percent
The survey was conducted from Jan. 31 to Feb. 17 鈥� after the inauguration but before the unveiling of Trump’s聽proposed budget that experts believe would be harsh on the , as it could mean the loss of an estimated 15,000鈥�25,000 federal jobs in 2018.
And while Trump’s budget would boost defense spending, it also would make 聽in non-military spending 鈥� e.g., nearly 29 percent from the State Department, more than 31 percent from the Environmental Protection Agency and nearly 21 percent each from the Agriculture and Labor departments, reports 草莓传媒’s sister station, Federal 草莓传媒 Radio.
To that point, optimism about the new president is particularly high among defense contractors and low among those who work for agencies like the EPA, the survey found.
Many business owners believe there is a massive amount of waste in the federal government, and they contend that productivity will be increased when Trump eliminates it.
The recent announcement of an initiative (led by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner) to apply business-world sense to government, however, has its skeptics in the business community.
Anirban Basu, economic consultant and CEO of the Sage Policy Group, told the journal that 鈥渂eing successful in business does not imply success in governance.鈥�
Read 鈥渦nfiltered鈥� comments from those executives surveyed on the .
