Jobs up, pay down

Small business jobs increased 4.4 percent in 2004, according to SurePayroll, which collects data from more than 14,000 U.S. small businesses. The bad news: Paycheck amounts decreased 4.8 percent in the same year. The reason, says Michael Alter, president of SurePayroll, is that the job hunting pool is large, allowing employers to hire for less. And he says he expects the pay to decline 2 percent to 3 percent in 2005.