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Small-business hiring in Ohio was up modestly in November, while the national numbers slipped slightly, according to a national payroll service.
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In November, Ohio's hiring index was up 0.65 percent, compared with basically flat national numbers, according to Skokie, Ill.-based SurePayroll, which conducted the survey of more than 15,000 companies nationwide.

Last month, hiring in Ohio was up 0.1 percent, while the national number dipped 0.1 percent. The most recent figures are a return to levels unseen since January 2004 and, taken together, indicate a recovering economy, said Ken Gaebler, spokesman for SurePayroll.

Salaries at small businesses in Ohio faltered last month, dipping slightly to $26,298 from $26,452 in October. The average salary nationwide climbed 0.3 percent to $28,888.

On a year-to-date basis, Ohio is outpacing national figures. So far, small businesses in Ohio have grown 6.8 percent and salaries have grown 1.1 percent in 2005, ahead of the national numbers of 0.3 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

The survey contains responses from companies that typically employ between one and 100 people, with 80 percent having nine or fewer employees. The majority are service-type companies, such as doctors offices and law firms, but not restaurants and manufacturing, said Michael Alter, SurePayroll's president. SurePayroll is a payroll service that processes more than $3 billion annually in paychecks to small-business employees and contractors.

Copyright © 2005. Dayton Business Journal.