Small-business owners nationwide increased their hiring in June, ending a four-month slide in small-business employment, according to a survey of 16,000 firms by SurePayroll, an online payroll processing firm.
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"It's been a year of sluggish economic growth for small businesses," said SurePayroll President Michael Alter. "Small businesses desperately need an easing of the monetary supply to speed things up a bit."

Nationwide, 16 percent of respondents hired new employees in June and 7 percent cut their workforce.

Year-to-date, only small businesses in the West have increased their staffs. The other four regions have experienced declines.

California firms have increased their workforces and the average paycheck during the first six months, SurePayroll reports. However, California was not among the top 10 states in small-business employment growth.

Florida topped the list with 15.8 percent employment growth at small businesses in the past 12 months. California firms have grown 0.5 percent.

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