Top corporate executives expect to hire more workers and spend more on their companies over the next six months.

A survey from Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of big U.S. companies, shows 45 percent of executives say they expect their companies to add more workers. That’s the highest percentage who have said they planned to add jobs since the survey began in late 2002.

It shows nearly six in 10 CEOs expect to bump up capital spending, another signal of confidence in the economy, while 80 percent expect sales growth.

The survey was conducted from Nov. 8 to Dec. 3, before the White House and Republican leaders cut a deal on extending tax cuts that economists think will help propel the economy.