The April 2008 SurePayroll Small Business Scorecard, an economic indicator that tracks the health of U.S. small businesses, indicates that small business hiring increased last month and salaries decreased slightly.

Year to date, small business hiring has increased 1.0 percent and salaries are down 0.1 percent. The current average small business salary in the United States now stands at $32,567.

"Hiring was up last month but the pace of growth was very low compared to prior months," noted Michael Alter, President of SurePayroll. "Entrepreneurs are incredibly resilient, but it does appear that the economy is taking a toll on small business growth."

SurePayroll's analysis is based on payroll records of over 18,000 companies who use SurePayroll's payroll service. For more details on the SurePayroll Small Business Scorecard, visit SurePayroll's website.