The number of advisors who are optimistic about the economy has increased dramatically from a year ago, according to a survey by Curian Capital LLC.

More than half of the respondents (54 percent) now believe the economy will improve over the next 12 months, compared with 34 percent who felt that way in December 2011. Twenty-six percent say they are unsure what the next 12 months will bring and 20 percent are pessimistic.

The sentiment was revealed in the sixth annual Curian Advisor Survey: 2013 Outlook for Advisor Priorities taken in January and released Wednesday. Curian called the jump in optimism striking.

“We’re not completely out of the woods yet, as unemployment and national debt still weigh on the minds of advisors, and their clients remain concerned about future market volatility,” says Chris Rosato, senior vice president of strategic development for Curian. “But as the U.S. stock markets have gathered pace over the past year, we’ve seen advisors are beginning to rebuild the trust of the general public.”

The survey of 2,088 advisors representing 186 firms also looked at what is bothering advisors and their clients and at advisors’ practice management issues.

Unemployment topped the list of the economic issues with 23 percent of advisors believing it is the biggest threat to their clients’ wealth management plans. Government spending came in second with 20 percent of advisors.

Thirty percent of the advisors say they believe their clients fear unemployment is the biggest threat to their wealth management plans, while 14 percent say their clients perceive market volatility as the biggest threat.

Almost all of the advisors surveyed are very (49 percent) or moderately (46 percent) concerned about rising interest rates and the impact this may have on the value of clients’ fixed-income investments.

Tax efficiency and after-tax performance are important aspects of the planning that 87 percent of advisors propose to their clients.

Advisors were asked which one product they would increase the use of the most in the coming year and the two top choices by far were separately managed accounts (27 percent) and alternative investments (24 percent).

Thirty-one percent of the advisors say they will increase the use of alternative investments by 5 percent to 10 percent during the coming year, while 57 percent say they use open-end mutual funds to gain exposure to alternatives now.

Advisors also were asked to rank the income-generating investment products they use based on their usage. Fixed income mutual funds and limited partnerships tied at 16 percent followed by real estate investment trusts at 15 percent, equities at 13 percent and individual bonds at 9 percent.

Continuing a trend from previous years, advisors cited acquiring more affluent clients as their major goal for this year (72 percent). However, growing and attracting clients and generating referrals is also the single biggest challenge they say they will face this year, the survey says. Advisors say they get most of their leads from referrals or from industry professionals.

Advisors also want to improve efficiency and time management (54 percent), capture more assets from current clients (53 percent) and market their business (46 percent).