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..

Watch this story on the small business economy.

JEFF YASTINE: America`s small businesses are looking towards a hopeful future. Historically, they have been big generators of jobs, but over the last few months, high energy costs and economic uncertainty have curtailed employment at many small firms. Now, as Diane Eastabrook reports, experts say it looks like small businesses could be getting ready to hire in a big way.

DIANE EASTABROOK, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: At McCormack- Shryber, the hunt is on for a new recruiter. The small recruitment firm specializes in finding lawyers for corporations and law firms. The company has hung out the help-wanted sign because business has been blossoming for months.

AMY MCCORMACK, CO-FOUNDER, MCCORMACK SCHREIBER: I have seen no indication that there is a slowdown in sight and, as a matter of fact, I have never seen a summer as busy as this summer is.

EASTABROOK: Economists say small businesses have become the driver of job growth in the U.S. The Small Business Administration says companies with fewer than 500 employees have accounted for up to 80 percent of the new jobs created in the U.S. over the past decade. But in recent months, many small businesses have been hit harder by rising raw material costs than large companies. Some experts think that is one reason many have been reluctant to expand. Surepayroll tracks hiring trends among small businesses. The company says in the first part of the year, the 16,000 small firms it polled weren`t optimistic about hiring. But Sure says its most recent survey shows things are beginning to turnaround.

MICHAEL ALTER, PRESIDENT, SUREPAYROLL: We`ve seen a trend in optimism change just in the last month or so as folks started to believe that the Fed was going to freeze on their interest rates. We surveyed our customers and the Surepayroll customer base. We saw an increase in optimism by 10 percentage points in terms of people`s view of the economy.

EASTABROOK: Still some economists point to the low unemployment rate and rising wages as continued obstacles for small firms hoping to hire.

CARL TANNENBAUM, CHIEF ECONOMIST, LASALLE BANK: That certainly signifies that not only is the labor market tight, but also that workers are maybe getting that extra little bit of leverage with their employers because of that.

EASTABROOK: Economists think businesses large and small will continue to feel wage pressures over the next few months, something the Federal Reserve is likely to monitor very carefully. Diane Eastabrook, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Chicago.

Copyright © 2006. Nightly Business Report.