More U.S. small businesses axed workers than added them on average over the past 12 months, putting the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index for net hiring at negative 10 in January.

That was little changed from negative 12 in November, negative 9 a year ago and negative 12 in January 2011. The index is compiled by polling 601 small business owners.

“Small business owners' self-reported net hiring suggests less overall hiring activity and essentially no improvement in small business job growth over the past two years,” writes Gallup’s Chief Economist Dennis Jacobe.

Editor's Note: 'It’s Curtains for the US' — Hear Unapologetic Warning from Prophetic Economist.

Owners who aren’t looking to hire offered several reasons why. The most common factor, cited by 81 percent of respondents, was not needing new workers now.

Second, at 74 percent, was worry that revenue wouldn’t justify adding more employees, and third, at 66 percent, was concern about the economy’s strength.

A total of 61 percent of small business owners cited healthcare costs, and 56 percent cited concern over new government regulations.

Negative news like this survey and the 0.1 percent decline in fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) haven’t erased some economists’ more sunny forecasts.

“It would be a mistake to view this drop in GDP — driven by temporary corrections in defense spending and inventories — as a possible harbinger of recession,” Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight, tells Bloomberg.

“We expect GDP growth to rebound to around 2 percent in the first quarter.”

And while many economists say the decline isn’t as bad as it looks, financial commentator Robert Wiedemer, best-selling author of "Aftershock," says the number is actually worse than it looks.

That’s because the government only adjusts GDP numbers by an annual inflation rate of 0.6 percent, even though the Consumer Price Index rose 1.7 percent last year, he tells Newsmax TV in an exclusive interview. And given the slim magnitude of GDP change, the inflation number makes a big difference.

“I think this number could actually be significantly worse than what the government is saying,” Wiedemer noted. While government spending, particularly defense, was blamed for much of the slip, Wiedemer says it’s really just the vagaries of how the government measures its spending.

Editor's Note: 'It’s Curtains for the US' — Hear Unapologetic Warning from Prophetic Economist.