Business leaders in manufacturing are pessimistic, with only 33 percent expecting the U.S. economy to improve in the next six months, according to Grant Thornton’s quarterly survey of U.S. business leaders, released today, Aug. 30.

At the same time, however, manufacturing business leaders are more optimistic about their own businesses, with 77 percent feeling optimistic about their companies’ potential growth over the next six months, the survey found.

According to the findings, 23 percent of manufacturing leaders who participated in the survey believe the U.S. economy will worsen in coming months, compared to 16 percent of business leaders in all fields.

Thirty-seven percent of surveyed manufacturers plan to increase their staff, compared to 38 percent of surveyed leaders in all fields, the survey found.

Rick Little is a board member of the Dayton Tooling and Manufacturing Association and president of Starwin Industries, a Kettering-based precision job shop that serves the aerospace and automotive industries. He said this year is one of the slowest years the firm has seen in a long time.

Yet, Little added, “Everyone is really cautiously optimistic around town.”

“We do feel like the economy as a whole is fragile,” he said. “And maybe that’s partly (because) we have more control about our businesses.”

He feels that perhaps one reason the nation is having a difficult time pulling from the recent recession is so many manufacturing jobs have been lost in the last 10 years.

“I think it’s the lifeblood of our country,” Little said of manufacturing.

Grant Thornton is a global audit, tax and advisory business, with clients in more than 100 countries.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.