Focus

In its recent survey of small businesses, CNNMoney.com reveals the sector is continuing to face acute hardships. More than one-third of small-business owners say their customers still are not buying freely, and only 14 percent hired more workers this year than they did in 2012. But nearly two-thirds haven't hired anyone during the past year.

Companies with fewer than 50 workers added 58,000 jobs in May, according to Chicago-based payroll-processing firm ADP, indicating small-business growth is declining.

Bill Dunkelberg, an economist with the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), told CNNMoney.com: "Owners are pessimistic about the future of the economy, and they're not making any bets customers will come in to generate extra revenue to pay for these workers."

On June 5, NFIB reported hiring among small businesses is at a standstill—9 percent of those surveyed hired 2.6 workers on average; 12 percent cut about three jobs; and 79 percent didn't change staff size.

Furthermore, a large chunk of small business is in construction fields—about 18 percent, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. And as we all know, construction in general is lagging in economic recovery.

"The recovery in small business has been really weak compared to the economy overall," says Susan Woodward, an economist for Intuit, another payroll-processing firm based in Mountain View, Calif. "If we can get construction back to normal, we'd almost be back to normal employment levels."

Other leading concerns of small-business owners include rising costs of doing business, regulations and financing. Although health care is a top concern, the Affordable Care Act only will affect 3 percent of small businesses (about 200,000) in the U.S., according to CNNMoney.com. (To read more about the Affordable Care Act, see "Prepare for compliance," page 40.)

However, if those 200,000 businesses do not comply with the arcane regulations in the act, they face fines starting at $40,000.

As the economy continues to recover, it is clear it won't return to full strength until small-business owners begin to feel some reprieve. Professional Roofing is interested in hearing your thoughts about CNNMoney.com's findings—email professionalroofing@professionalroofing.net or post a comment on Professional Roofing's Facebook page.

Ambika Puniani Bailey is editor of Profes­sional Roofing and NRCA's associate executive director of communications and production.