SurePayroll ranks December's small business hiring, paycheck sizes

The SurePayroll December 2011 Small Business Scorecard ranked the small business hiring index and average paycheck size in metropolitan areas of the United States last month.

St. Louis saw an average salary size increase of 10.8 percent, the highest among studied areas. It was followed by Philadelphia (8 percent) and Orlando (7.8 percent). Paychecks in Indianapolis saw the largest decrease (14.4 percent), ahead of Columbus' 12.1 percent.

With regard to hiring, San Antonio topped the list with an increase of 8.3 percent, followed by Orlando with 7.1 percent. The metro areas that saw the biggest hiring decreases were Sacramento (15.9 percent) and Cincinnati (15.1 percent).

"We saw caution in 2011, but the leading indicators suggest 2012 looks positive," said SurePayroll president and CEO Michael Alter. "The sun is on the horizon. Optimism is higher, 50 percent plan to hire and wages look to go up."

Specifically, optimism among small business owners is up to 63 percent - the highest it's been since June. In addition, 56 percent of those surveyed said they plan to increase wages for all or some of their workers in 2012, while just 2 percent expressed intentions to implement pay cuts.

Alter noted that providing small companies with easy access to capital will be crucial in terms of nurturing growth in the sector.

"(Lending has) been a challenge over the last few years, but hopefully as we look ahead to 2012 that will change," he said.

With regard to regional small business trends, hiring stayed flat in the South and was down slightly in the Midwest, Northeast and West compared to November levels.