by Calculated Risk on 9/12/2017 08:42:00 AM

From the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB): August 2017 Report:Small Business Optimism Holds its Altitude in August

The Index of Small Business Optimism rose 0.1 points to 105.3 in August, basically unchanged from July. Five of the 10 Index components posted a gain and five declined. The Index peaked for this recovery at 105.9 in January, just 0.6 points above the August reading.
...
Small business owners reported a seasonally adjusted average employment change per firm of 0.18 workers per firm over the past three months, virtually unchanged from July. Fourteen percent (up 1 point) reported increasing employment an average of 4.4 workers per firm and 12 percent (up 1 point) reported reducing employment an average of 2.4 workers per firm (seasonally adjusted). Fifty-nine percent reported hiring or trying to hire (down 1 point), but 52 percent (88 percent of those hiring or trying to hire) reported few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill. Nineteen percent of owners cited the difficulty of finding qualified workers as their Single Most Important Business Problem (unchanged), second only to taxes.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the small business optimism index since 1986.

The index increased to 105.3 in August.