Eight in ten want U.S. employers to require COVID-19 vaccination: NABE survey

Nearly 80 percent of respondents are in favor of employers requiring their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to the workplace, according to a National Association for Business Economics (NABE) survey released Monday.

A "substantial majority" of respondents, 79 percent, is in favor of employers requiring their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before they return to the workplace, showed the semiannual economic policy survey, administered between Aug. 2 and Aug. 10.

Fourteen percent of respondents are opposed to such a policy, according to the survey, which summarizes the responses of 227 NABE members.

The survey showed that 25 percent of respondents indicates that their employers are requiring employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before they return to the workplace, while 33 percent report their employers are not requiring employees to be fully vaccinated.

NABE President Manuel Balmaseda, who is also chief economist at CEMEX, noted that panelists' views are "split" on whether fiscal and monetary policies are 'too stimulative,' or 'about right'."

While 49 percent of respondents believe current fiscal policy is 'too stimulative,' nearly as many - 45 percent - indicate current policy is 'about right,' the survey showed. Similarly, a slight majority - 52 percent - of panelists believes current monetary policy is too stimulative, compared to 47 percent who say it is about right.

Looking forward, more than half (52 percent) of the respondents expect the Fed will start tapering asset purchases by the end of 2021. Almost three-fourths of the respondents (74 percent) believe the Fed should raise interest rates by the end of 2022.

The panelists' views on whether current monetary policy should address the recent spike in inflation are split, the survey showed. Slightly less than half (47 percent) believe the central bank should not take action, while 49 percent think it should.

Among that 49 percent, there is disagreement as to which primary tool policymakers should use to tackle inflation: 26 percent suggest tapering asset purchases, 5 percent suggest interest rates should be raised, and 18 percent believe that both tools should be implemented.

In addition, only 23 percent believe that the risks to the Fed's 2 percent inflation target are "balanced;" 58 percent sees them as skewed to the "upside," while 15 percent believe they are tilted to the "downside."