A Business Roundtable survey found that 60 percent of 101 chief executive officers surveyed indicated they would make cuts in six months, up from 32 percent who indicated they would do so in the third quarter, USA Today reported Friday.

"This is so quick and so sharp," said Richard Yamarone, director of research at Argus Research. "We had some job loss the first seven or eight months of the year but it was nothing like this."

The survey's executive economic outlook index plunged dramatically, falling from 78.8 in the third quarter to 16.5 in the fourth. The index uses 50 as a break-even point with figures of more than 50 indicating growth and numbers less than 50 indicating economic contraction.