The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) yesterday gave unemployed workers the latest dose of bad news, announcing that in a recent survey of small firms only 1 percent indicated that they are planning new hires, down from 6 percent in February. This lowest level of planned small business hiring since December 1991 is an important job market indicator---small firms do the majority of new hiring---and is evidence that low consumer confidence fueled by fears of unemployment has businesses scared (see WIT for Feb. 28, 2003). The NFIB report added to the gloom created by a recent Business Roundtable report showing that while 9 percent of the membership of this large corporation are planning new hires in the next six months, 45 percent are planning to cut jobs.
See "Small companies too scared to hire", JIM HOPKINS, USA Today, April 15, 2003