(Bloomberg) — Fewer small companies plan to raise wages in coming months after a net 25 percent said they recently boosted compensation for their workers.

A net 12 percent of managers said in January that they will be increasing pay, according to the seasonally adjusted results of 1,663 responses in a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business. That's down 5 points from December, when 17 percent said they planned higher salaries and 25 percent said they had recently increased compensation.

The group's index of small-business optimism declined to 97.9 in January from 100.4 a month earlier.

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