The Business Roundtable announced Wednesday that strong consumer demand has fueled a surge of optimism among CEOs about the economy for the next six-months, and released the results from its latest survey.

The lobbying group’s members include CEOs from major American corporations. However, they cautioned that their survey was not completed prior to the introduction of the new omicron Covid and that it only measured executives’ plans over the next six-months.

Business Roundtable has released the fourth quarter CEO Economic Outlook Survey. The survey revealed its headline index reached its highest level ever in 20 years of its history, at 124. This is a 10-point increase from the last quarter. 

CEOs also reported that their plans to hire increased by 13 points, capital investment plans increased by 7 points, and sales expectations rose 9 points. According to the group, optimism was driven by the huge consumer demand that has been released.

Doug McMillon is the Chairman of Business Roundtable and CEO of Walmart. To sustain high growth in the second half 2022, it will take continued progress to defeat the pandemic (including new variations).

The CEOs predicted 3.9% annual growth in their initial estimate of U.S. GDP growth in 2022.

Business Roundtable also surveyed CEOs to find out what cost pressures they face. 48% identified labor costs to be the most pressing cost, with 20% identifying disruptions in supply chains and 17% identifying materials costs.

Josh Bolten from Business Roundtable highlighted the recent legislation in Congress Hill as one factor behind executives’ economic optimism.

He said that “the recent bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act which directs needed resources to upgrade our nation’s physical infrastructure and broadband connectivity is an important investiment in the long term health of the country’s economy.” As the economy’s normal growth rate returns, sound economic policy will be able to sustain it over the long-term.

This survey was done between Nov. 3 – Nov. 22. Omicron has been classified by the World Health Organization. a “variant of concern” on Nov. 26.