May’s Executive Turnover Totals Defy Weak Job Growth

Liberum Research continues to view the American economy in a more positive light than has been seen by the majority of analysts and economic forecasters.  Despite the worrying overall employment numbers and incredibly weak job growth that has been registered of late, Liberum expects these numbers will improve as we move into the late summer and early fall.  We are still very concerned about the severe economic problems in Europe and hope to see a change of strategy by Germany in conjunction with the other large European members to deal with the problems facing Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal.  If the severe austerity approach of the European Community continues, Liberum will be forced to re-evaluate our assessment but we expect growing pressures will force it to change.

Here in the United States growing executive turnover remains one of the few bright spots for the United States economy.  While our assessment for the future of the U.S. economy is a lone voice, we still see real hope for growth in the economy and in overall jobs.  Last month’s job numbers so far do not jive with our forecast but we still believe there is a real chance for a change in these numbers going forward.  For the next few months, Liberum expects to see reasonably robust turnover in the nation’s corporate executive ranks.  We expect these growing turnover numbers will translate into a slow but steady growth in jobs.

Below is a breakdown of the key executive category percentage increases for May 2012 compared with May a year earlier and the previous month of April 2012.  The year to year changes overall were quite positive while the month over month executive turnover numbers again showed a slowing in the trend but unlike the previous month to month comparison actually showed growth.

• For May the four key categories saw increases, CEO changes increased 37%, CFO changes increased 75%, overall C-level (as defined by Liberum Research as board of directors, CEOs, CFOs down to corporate VPs) changes increased 25% and board of director changes increased 84% as compared with May 2011 totals.

• The month to month change in executive turnover showed an increase for all the key areas for April 2012 to May 2012.  CEO changes increased 30%, CFO changes increased 7%, overall C-level changes increased 6% and board of director changes increased 10%.

Below are four  graphical representations of the total executive turnover changes in the month of may for CEOs, CFOs, C-level changes (as defined by Liberum Research) and Board of Director Changes.  The numbers continue to show growth.