Biz poll: 3.2% economic growth expected in '10-'11

WASHINGTON - The recovery that began last year will be stronger than previously estimated, according to a survey by the National Association for Business Economics.

The U.S. economy, the world's largest, will expand 3.2 percent this year and next, according to the poll taken April 27-May 7. In February, the group projected growth of 3.1 percent for 2010 and 2011. Economists also boosted their projections for payrolls and consumer spending this year.

The outlook brightened even as concern over the European debt crisis mounted. Of those polled, 49 percent said Greece will default, either within a year or after some short-term maneuvering bought the country extra time. The survey was conducted before European policy makers announced a $1-trillion loan package to support debt-laden governments.

"Although risks involving Europe have recently escalated, the outlook in this country has improved in most respects," NABE president Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, Calif., said in a statement.

"Growth prospects are stronger, unemployment and inflation are lower, and worries related to consumer retrenchment and domestic financial headwinds have diminished," Reaser said.

Consumer spending adjusted for inflation will expand 2.6 percent, up from 2.2 percent projected in February, according to the poll.