Small business employment grew slightly in August, but at a declining rate compared to healthy gains made in January through April. However, hours worked and compensation per employee remained steady.

The latest Intuit Inc. Small Business Employment Index found that small business employment grew by 0.1 percent in August, equating to a 1.2 percent annual growth rate. The Index is based on figures from the country's smallest businesses that use Intuit Online Payroll.

The August employment growth translates to about 26,000 new jobs nationwide, the same number of jobs added in July based on revised estimates. Since the growth trend began in October 2009, small business jobs have increased by 340,000.

Wages and hours worked remained essentially steady with marginal increases of 0.06 percent and 0.04 percent respectively.

"As with other economic indicators, these small business figures show signs that the recovery is not progressing as fast as we would like," said Susan Woodward, the economist who worked with Intuit to create the Index. "Overall though, small businesses generally lead big businesses in hiring at the end of a recession, so we would have hoped to see more employment growth in this sector now."

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