Economists at a broad swath of U.S. businesses expect their firms will ramp up capital investments over the next year, a positive sign for the long-term economic growth outlook.

A National Association for Business Economics (NABE) survey published on Monday found 61 percent of the firms surveyed planned to increase capital spending, which includes investments in buildings and equipment.

The quarterly survey was conducted between March 18 and April 1.

After subtracting the 7 percent of firms that expected decreases in capital spending, the net share seeing gains was 54 percent. That was higher than in any of the last four quarterly surveys, in which the net share ranged between 40 percent and 47 percent, NABE said.

Capital spending has been a weak link for the economy during much of America's slow recovery from the 2007-09 recession.

Softness in this corner of the economy has provoked concern that a prolonged bout of weak demand could depress productivity growth, leaving the economy on a slower economic growth path.

Productivity numbers have been generally weak during the recovery. But an increase in capital investment could counter this trend.

In its survey, NABE received responses from 64 members regarding its question on capital investment.

The companies were mostly large businesses, and included businesses from manufacturing, construction, services, finance and other sectors of the economy.