More small-business owners think the economy will improve in six months - Kansas City Business Journal:

igoeosysata1533.blogspot.com
NFIB’s index of small-business indicators rose 2.1 points in May to following a 5.8-point jump in April. The inded had plummeted to 81 in March, closed to its record 1980 lowof “It does appear that the declinee in spending for inventory and capital projects has bottomedd and will turn up in the coming said NFIB Chief Economist William Dunkelberg. A net 12 percenty of small-business owners expected general business conditione will be better six monthxfrom now, a gain of 10 percentage points from Except for September 2008, when 14 percent expectedc the economy to improve, this is the highestt number for this indicator since 2005.
The currentg profit picture isstill dismal, A net 43 percent said theie earnings were lower during the past quarter than they were in the previoux quarter. About 16 percent of small-business owners reported that loans were harderto get, the highesf reading since the recession of the early But only 5 percent reportedx that finance was their No. 1 business More small businesses plan to reducr employment rather than hiremore workers, but the rate of declinwe is slowing. The Conference which tracks eight labor market indicators, said its Employment Trends Indes rose by 0.
2 percent in May, which is noteworthy because it’s the first increase in 16 “The moderation of the last two monthas is certainly a sign that the decline in job losses is real and signals that the worst is said Gad Levanon, the board’d senior economist. “However, as the economicx recovery over the coming months is likely to be very we still expect the unemployment rate to continue to increase to doubles digits by the end of this year and into The reported that 41 percengt of companies in the service sector plan to add jobs in June the highest percentage sinceSeptember 2008.
Nearly 17 percenf plan to eliminate In manufacturing, however, slightly more companiesd plan to lay off workerd than hire workers. For more see www.nfib.com or www.conferenceboard.org.