Amid all the complaints about a jobless recovery, there's at least one pocket of industry that has big hiring plans. A just-completed survey of the National Association of Wholesaler- Distributors' largest members indicates that 67 percent of the respondents intend to increase their workforce this year.On average, these companies will expand their employee base by 4.7 percent, according to the respondents.

"These new hires are in response to very healthy sales gains posted by wholesaler-distributors in January and February," says Dirk Van Dongen, president of the 40,000-member trade group. "The survey participants see strong sales increases ahead and need more people to handle the increase in business they are experiencing."

Survey respondents credit the president's tax cuts and incentives for sparking the business growth. At the same time, they caution that rising health care costs are dampening full profit recovery.