As they wait for the economy to improve, business leaders are setting their priorities. The first thing many plan to do on that inevitable day when budgets open up again is hire more employees.

Asked to pick from a list of employee-related priorities, 31 percent of 150 senior executives told staffing firm Robert Half that new hiring is the area in which they're most likely to increase spending once they actually have money to spend. That's not surprising, considering that waves of layoffs have left many, if not most, U.S. companies operating with lean staffs. With a national unemployment rate of about 10 percent, there are more than enough bodies out there to fill those empty seats.