Employment and Revenue Growth Still Strong

The erosion in revenue and employment growth of mid-market companies reported during the second half of 2013 reversed course during the first quarter of 2014, according to results of the Middle Market Indicator, a quarterly business performance and economic outlook survey by the National Center for the Middle Market at Ohio State University.

CEO, CFO and other C-suite respondents reported significant increases in both areas over the past 12 months. Middle-market companies reported a year-over-year increase in revenue growth of 6.5 percent for the past 12 months, outpacing by far the 0.5 percent revenue growth experienced by the S&P 500 over the same period.

What’s more, 46 percent of middle-market companies reported having a larger workforce than one year ago, a significant increase over the 39 percent of companies that reported having grown their workforce in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Confidence in the economy is also continuing to expand, with 57 percent of middle-market leaders at least somewhat confident in the global economy, a bump from the 40 percent reporting that level of confidence one year ago.