According to this study on small business trends:
Small business hiring is up 0.8 percent in December from November — the greatest month-over-month hiring increase since February ’08. That brings us to a year-to-date increase of 3.4 percent. Salaries continue to decline. The month-over-month decrease is 0.4 percent, bringing us to a year-over-year decrease of 8.3 percent.