NEW YORK -- U.S. manufacturing executives are less optimistic about the domestic economy, but believe global demand can offset domestic weakness, a quarterly survey found Wednesday.
Fifty-seven percent of industrial manufacturers are optimistic about the U.S. economy over the next 12 months, down from 64 percent in the fourth-quarter survey and 67 percent a year ago, the PricewaterhouseCoopers consultancy said.
By contrast, 83 percent of senior executives are upbeat about the world economy, up 14 percentage points from the previous survey.
"They're clearly looking to the international side for continued growth," said Barry Misthal, PricewaterhouseCoopers' industrial manufacturing sector leader. "They're starting to look at new investments, particularly in foreign growth."
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The decline in optimism reflects concerns about energy prices, the overall level of demand, as well as a lack of qualified workers, according to the survey.
While executives are looking to expand internationally, more of them expressed worries about global competition, the survey found.
PricewaterhouseCoopers polled chief executives, chief financial officers and other senior executives of 61 large U.S. industrial companies and — for comparison — 40 peers in other sectors.
Manufacturing executives have a more favorable view of the global economy than their counterparts in other lines of business, partly because a bigger portion of their sales comes from outside the United States.
They are less concerned about interest rates and rising wages than executives outside manufacturing.
The survey, which started in the third quarter of 2003, found that optimism peaked about a year ago, and has been trending lower.
"They see a slowdown in their growth for '07, a little bit of an uptick in early '08," Misthal said.
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