Small-Business Optimism Fades

Small-business owners ended 2006 on a serious note, according to the latest NFIB Research Foundation Small-Business Economic Trends Report. Declines in job-creation plans as well as a drop in the number of business owners who expected the economy to improve sent the Small-Business Optimism level down 3.2 points to 96.5 (1986=100).

October readings showed near record-high rates of business owners planning to create new jobs. But by December, that number dropped sharply to just 10 percent. Ten percent of the owners reported that the availability of qualified labor was their top business problem, down two points from November and five points from October, indicating that labor market conditions may be easing.

Read more about what the survey predicts about the first quarter of this year here.