Summary: Need help with PR? If you are looking for a great PR firm, you've found one. Walker Sands is a leading Chicago PR firm with a strong track record that makes it one of top national PR agencies..

Small-business hiring decreased last month, according to the August 2006 SurePayroll Small Business Scorecard.

"Hiring has been down in six of the last seven months," notes Michael Alter, president of SurePayroll. "At the same time, we are seeing strong growth in small-business employee salaries, with August marking the 12th consecutive month in which salaries have increased."

The average small-business salary across the nation now stands at an annualized rate of $30,114, the highest level for salaries since July 2004. At the current pace, Alter projects that salaries will be up 8.5 percent at the end of the year.

Hiring, however, is projected to be down by 0.5 percent, so there may be fewer small-business jobs at the end of the year than there were at the beginning.

Results are based on payroll data from over 17,000 small businesses.

Copyright (c) 2006. Chicago Tribune.