by Calculated Risk on 6/09/2015 09:07:00 AM

From the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB): Small business optimism level is finally back to a normal level

The Index of Small Business Optimism increased 1.4 points to 98.3 ... May is the best reading since the 100.4 December reading but nothing to write home about. The 42 year average is 98.0 ... Eight of the 10 Index components posted improvements.
...
Small businesses posted another decent month of job creation in May, a string of 5 solid months of job creation. On balance, owners added a net 0.13 workers per firm over the past few months.... Twenty-nine percent of all owners reported job openings they could not fill in the current period, up 2 points, revisiting the February reading, and the highest reading since April 2006.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the small business optimism index since 1986.

The index increased to 98.3 in May from 96.9 in April.