（June 7, 2010）

SEVEN out of 10 private companies believe the economy is in recovery as employers planning to expand their business deal with a skills shortage, a survey shows.

It is a dramatic turnaround from a year earlier, when just two per cent of non-listed firms in Australia had a positive economic view.

The survey of 156 firms in the manufacturing, retail and property services sectors showed 70 per cent were optimistic about the mid-year economic outlook.

The poll by global consultancy giant KPMG was taken in April and May as the Greek debt crisis sparked turmoil on global financial markets.

Three-quarters of firms polled were planning to expand, a turnaround from last year, when close to one-third were planning to downsize.

Two-thirds of respondents were planning to hire staff during the coming year, but the same proportion in the survey saw skills shortages as an impediment in the past year.

KPMG's head of private enterprise Marco Di Sebastiano said conservative borrowing practices had enabled businesses to stay resilient.

"This enables private companies to remain resilient through tough times and periods of uncertainty such as the current economic uncertainty in Europe," he said.

To deal with a labour shortage, employers were likely to focus on training existing workers rather than hiring new people, he added.

Ninety percent of respondents said they were moderately or well prepared to deal with changes in the Australian economy in the coming year.

(Source from:news.com.au)