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California small businesses not only added jobs in May, they paid higher wages, according to the latest report from SurePayroll, a nationwide online payroll processor based in Illinois.
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California businesses increased their number of employees by 0.2 percent and the average paycheck by 4.5 percent. Nationwide, small employers cut jobs by 0.3 percent and increased the average paycheck by 3.8 percent.

"Long story short, small-business hiring remains weak. We just are not seeing much growth," said SurePayroll President Michael Alter.

Among the individual states that SurePayroll tracks, the greatest increase in jobs was Utah, 3.6 percent. The greatest decline was Pennsylvania, down 3.2 percent. The greatest hike in average paycheck was New York, up 12.9 percent. The only state in which the average paycheck declined was Florida, 2.4 percent.

Copyright (c) 2006. Orange County Register.