SAS CEO sees jobless recovery

CARY, North Carolina (Reuters) - The improving U.S. economy is unlikely to create many new jobs, leading to a so-called jobless recovery, said the head of software maker SAS in an interview on Thursday.

James Goodnight, chief executive officer of the privately held, business analytics software maker said the United States is doing a poor job of training new engineers and scientists.

"Because India and China are graduating 10 times the engineers we are, we are slowly going to see more and more of the innovation shifting to Asia," Goodnight said in an interview with Reuters at the Business Council gathering of U.S. CEOs in Cary, North Carolina.

"If we don't have the skills in this country to innovate, to create new products, new ideas, there won't be any new jobs," he said.

In addition, much of the manufacturing capacity that moved overseas will not soon return to the United States.

"We are in a recovery, but we are not creating any new jobs. We have pushed everyone down to the barest minimum of jobs we need and it's going to stay there for a while," Goodnight said.

WEAK DOLLAR, ACQUISITIONS

The weaker U.S. dollar has been one of the biggest boons to the company over the past year, he said.

SAS reaps about 65 percent of its revenue from outside the United States, and as the dollar has dropped against the euro and other currencies, it has helped boost profit.

"For every 100 euros (of product) we sell in Europe, we get back 150 dollars," said Goodnight. "The biggest benefit to our business is the weaker dollar."

A weaker dollar can benefit U.S. manufacturing plants because overseas competitors' goods cost more.

Goodnight said there were two or three possible acquisition targets in the competitive space for SAS, but declined to name them or give more details.

(Reporting by Chelsea Emery; editing by Leslie Gevirtz)