More small businesses will be hiring

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Small businesses the engine of job growth are preparing to pick-up the pace, according to McLean-based Capital One Financial Corp. Thirty percent of small businesses polled by Capital One in the third quarter plan to hire workers in the next six months, 4 percent more than in the bank\'s second-quarter survey. The majority of small businesses are still on the sidelines. Sixty-three percent said in the survey, they would not be adding employees in the next six months. Most businesses will hold the line on other spending in the half year ahead. Capital One said 66 percent of small businesses say they plan to keep business development and investment spending at current levels, while only 16 percent plan to increase their spending. Fifteen percent said the would decrease spending. The modest improvement in hiring plans is more significant when considering the small business community\'s outlook in the third quarter. Just 27 percent of small businesses in the survey expect that economic conditions for their business were improving in the third quarter, down from 32 percent in the second quarter, and 39 percent in the first.Slightly more than half (51 percent) of businesses in the survey said their firm s financial position had held steady relative to one year ago, while 30 percent felt their firm s financial position had improved. Eighteen percent reported that their financial position had worsened.The survey was conducted for Capital One by Braun Research of Princeton, N.J., which interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,901 for-profit small businesses in the U.S. Samples were also taken in New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, Texas and the Washington, D.C., area.