Despite stubbornly slow growth in hiring among America's small-business owners, hiring projections for the coming 12 months was up 10 percentage points. Accordingly, there were gains in small-business owners' confidence in their own business: 80 percent said they are confident in the future of their business—the highest this indicator has been in nine years. Seventy-eight percent of small firms already are growing or anticipate growth in the coming year.

The number one thing small business wants Congress and the Administration to do is end the partisan gridlock and work together, followed closely by tax simplification, reduce health care costs and address the deficit. NSBA also asked a number of federal contracting questions in the survey and found that, while the majority of prime contractors receive payment within 30 days, only about one-third of subcontractors do.

"Fewer small-business owners today say that economic uncertainty is a significant problem facing their business than at any point in the last nine years," stated NSBA Chair Pedro Alfonso of Dynamic Concepts, Inc. in Washington, D.C. "However, health care costs and the tax burden both increased in terms of major problems facing their business."