The CBIZ Small Business Employment Index, which measures hiring trends among companies with 300 or fewer employees, fell by 1.57 percent during July after a 1.38 percent increase in June.

"As we have seen in the previous two years, the SBEI metric has moved negative in the month of July," says Philip Noftsinger, business unit president for CBIZ Payroll Services. "This year's data moved more negative than in the previous two years, possibly indicating that small-business employers are not only feeling the economic slowdown that has been widely acknowledged but may also be anticipating the slowdown continuing or increasing as we approach the fall and into the holiday shopping season."

Twenty-nine percent of respondents cut staff; however, 22 percent of respondents added employees. Another 49 percent of respondents maintained staffing levels.