SurePayroll, the online alternative inpayroll services, today announced August results for its monthly Small Business Scorecard, which recently expanded to include hiring and wage data for the top 35 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas.

ForAugust 2011, hiring is down from the previous month at 2.6% YTD and paycheck levels remain down at 0.3% YTD. In addition, optimism among small business owners stayed flat at 48% after plummeting to 47% last month from 67% in June. Write-in responses to the SurePayroll Optimism Survey indicated that regardless of whether small business owners were optimistic or pessimistic about economic recovery, they had minimal confidence in the government's ability to stimulate the economy. Numerous respondents felt at the end of the day, it is up to small businesses to generate economic recovery themselves.

SurePayroll President and CEOMichael Alter, a small business advocate who regularly analyzes economic data to provide insights into the small business economy, points to the positive growth in cities such asOrlandoand Greensboro– which led the metro data last month as well –andSan Antonio. He says that overall, however, the recent figures once again illustrate the trend of flat or decreased hiring for the 11th month in a row.

"With a challenging outlook on the economy, and low confidence in our government's ability to stimulate the economy, it's no surprise that we don't yet see an investment made in hiring," saysMichael Alter, president and CEO, SurePayroll. "Business owners need confidence before they can risk the extra head count, and most just don't have it yet."