I've written before about the small business element of the economy.  The rub is that today's small businesses are tomorrow's big businesses.  And right now small businesses aren't hiring.  I think President Obama called the U.S. employment situation "stubborn".  Indeed.  The Wall Street Journal points to the reasons:

"More than half of the small-business executives in the June 27-30 survey cited economic uncertainty as the main reason for holding back on hiring. About a third blamed lack of sales, while just 7% pointed to problems getting credit."