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A report released this month by the nation’s fifth largest payroll service provider finds the West is the only U.S. region seeing an increase in small-business hires despite the fact that California and most every other Western state failed to make the company’s list of the best places for small businesses in 2006.
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The report was conducted by SurePayroll, which has headquarters in Skokie, Ill. SurePayroll based the report on the company’s some 16,000 small-business clients spread throughout the country. Although new small-business hirings are up in the West — from 10,563 in May to 10,597 in June — hires in the Midwest, Northeast and South are down slightly. Showing signs of a possible trend, new hires were also up in the West and down everywhere else in an April to May comparison.

While California may not be among the top 10 states per the February study, the report released this month that examined payroll records from July 2005 to June 2006, found that the average small-business salary in the Golden State and the rest of the Western region has increased 6.3 percent. Nationwide, salaries are up 4.1 percent, with the West leading the way in percentage points.

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Take Note: A Sacramento-based company is soliciting San Diego business owners, offering to file fictitious business name statements for significantly more money than necessary.

The San Diego County assessor/recorder/clerk’s office issued that warning July 10 after hearing from many area small-business owners who say that they are being asked to pay $120 for a filing procedure that costs, on average, $20 when done directly through the county.

Copyright (c) 2006. San Diego Business Journal.