Reuters (05/31/12)

An analysis of Standard & Poor’s 500 companies indicates that close to 75% are hiring, with the number of new employees up 4.2% over the past 12 months. Scott Wren of Wells Fargo Advisors says, “A very broad swath of industries have been hiring people. They just have not been hiring that many people.” The National Federation of Independent Business says small businesses have been creating jobs more slowly, with “little improvement on Main Street in optimism or hiring and spending this year.” Still, hiring among large corporations will depend on revenue growth, which dropped to 5.2% in the first quarter and is predicted to fall to 2.5% for the second quarter.