PNC Bank's spring 2011 survey shows that small business owners are slowly climbing out from the dregs of the Great Recession.  They’re more likely to hire and less likely to layoff than they were six months ago.
David Churbock is vice-president of Cage Gear & Machine in Canton, and says his company is hiring for the first time in three years.

According to the PNC survey, about 15 percent of small and mid-sized companies expect to hire full-time employees in the next six months. That’s up from just 6 percent last fall.
On a potential downside – at least for consumers – a third of the businesses plan to raise prices, mostly to cover greater energy costs.  But PNC senior economist Robert Dye says he expects fuel prices to drop in the second half of this year.