The "Bush boom" -- did you blink? Well, you probably missed it:

Fewer small businesses plan to hire

Small businesses, the engine of U.S. job creation, are retreating on hiring plans - magnifying the jobless recovery.

The share planning to hire fell to 13% last month in a survey of 567 small firms out Friday. That was down from 17% in January, the National Federation of Independent Business trade group said.

Even the weak hiring plans may be too rosy. For most of the past year, small firms failed to add employees despite earlier plans, NFIB data show.

The trend is significant because small companies create most jobs. The USA's 5.8 million small employers have nearly half of all workers....

--Yahoo News/USA Today

(Link via Pandagon.)