Fewer companies in the U.S. plan to boost payrolls in early 2012 even as growth is projected to pick up, a survey showed.

The share of companies seeking to add workers in the next six months fell to 27 percent, the lowest in at least five quarters, and 64 percent said employment will not change, the National Association for Business Economics said today in Washington. Sixty-five percent of firms estimated the world's largest economy will grow more than 2 percent this year, up from 16 percent in an October survey.

"The optimism reflects growth in the economy," said Nayantara Hensel, chairwoman of the NABE outlook survey committee and professor of Industry and Business at the National Defense University in Washington. "But the optimism could change as there's also uncertainty. That's why we see a degree of caution on employment."