A slowdown for Small Business

More small businesses say that they are planning to shrink their payrolls than expand them according to a report released by the National Federation of Independent Business, a trade group that regularly surveys its membership of small businesses across America.

Their finding provides a glimpse into the pessimism of the nation’s small firms as they put together their budgets for the coming season, and depicts a gloomier outlook than other recent economic indicators because this one is forward-looking.

While big companies are buoyed by record profits, many small businesses, which employ half of the country’s private sector workers, are still struggling to break even. And if the nation’s small companies plan to further delay hiring, there is little hope that the nation’s 14 million idle workers will find gainful employment soon.