The October 2007 SurePayroll Small Business Scorecard, an economic indicator that tracks the health of U.S. small businesses, reported that hiring and salaries grew in the small-business economy last month but entrepreneurs' optimism declined.

Only 64.2 percent of small-business owners surveyed by SurePayroll said they were optimistic about the economy, down from 78.3 percent in September.

Despite lower optimism, hiring and salaries both increased in October. The SurePayroll Hiring Index ended the month at 10,822, a 35-point increase (0.32 percent) from September. The SurePayroll Pay Index was 1,056 at the end of October, up three points (0.28 percent) from the end of September. Year to date, small-business hiring is up 3.6 percent, and small-business salaries have increased 3.7 percent.

The SurePayroll Small Business Scorecard is based on payroll records of over 18,000 companies who use SurePayroll's payroll service. For more details on SurePayroll's analysis, visit www.surepayroll.com/scorecard.