Companies from General Electric to yogurt producer Chobani are adding workers, accelerating a rebound in hiring, as chief executive officers prepare for greater demand in a strengthening economic recovery.

Boeing is bringing in more than 100 union machinists a week for a 60 percent boost in output by 2014. Nissan will expand in Tennessee with 1,000 people making lithium-ion batteries. And a GE executive was at a Kentucky appliance plant before dawn this month to greet some of 500 new employees.