A new executive employer survey from Littler Mendelson reveals that we can be tentatively optimistic about hiring over the next 12 months—tentatively because both economic and regulatory hurdles may throw a wrench in employers' plans to provide more jobs. The survey polled more than 900 in-house counsel, human resources and C-suite executives on upcoming issues facing employers.

Here are some of the survey's key findings:

• 71% of those surveyed plan to hire new workers sometime in the next year.
• Employers' optimism about hiring may have to do with the fact that they expect that whoever wins the 2012 Presidential election, be it Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, will prioritize job creation.
• Finding a job may be easier, but once hired, the economy still takes its toll on workers. 91% of respondents believed employees are often required to do more with less, while 85% of respondents see employees staying in a job because they are unable to find employment elsewhere.
• Regulatory issues also vex employers, with health care reform (64%), union organizing (41%) and immigration reform (22%) cited most often by survey respondents as impacting the workplace.

Read the full survey here.