Tax Credits Not Enough to Jump-Start Hiring: Sperling

The only way to combat the country's high unemployment rateis to encourage companies to invest in their own capacity, Scott Sperling, co-president of THL Partners, told CNBC Thursday.

Sperling believes companies are only going to hire more people if they have demand for their goods or services.

"They aren't going to hire people because of a $5,000 dollar tax credit. Nobody is going to do that," the head of one of the nation's leading buyout firms told CNBC's "The Strategy Session".

"Anything that goes on in any aspect of the population that takes dollars out of their pockets for whatever government purpose probably is not positive at this point in time in the economy," Sperling said.

For that reason, the big concern is the consumerand the pressure that will be on the consumer next year, which is largely related to government policy, he said.

"The only way demand builds in when the consumer has more capital to spend," he concluded.