By Julie Wernau | Chicago business owners are less pessimistic about sales and hiring than they were six months ago, according to a survey of small and middle-market business owners conducted by The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.

One out of five businesses owners said they expected to hire full-time employees during the next six months, up from 17 percent six months ago. About 9 percent said they planned to cut workers.

While owners showed cautious optimism about their own company’s
prospects, 87 percent said they did not think the U.S. economy had
begun to improve and just one third believed it would improved in the
next 12 months.

One year after the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act, three quarters of Chicago business owners surveyed said they had
yet to benefit from it