Based on D&B's analysis, U.S. businesses continued to grow in January 2014, leading to an estimated increase in employment of 153,000 new jobs being created, which was driven by continued improvement in overall financial performance. Despite a slight overall decline in the Small Business Health Index, small businesses exhibited bright spots in key segments such as on-time credit card and bill payments. Likewise, the rise in the number of U.S. jobs resulted from strong gains in the retail and business services segments. In addition, overall U.S. business health continued to strengthen in January, evidenced by a lower risk of business failure.

"Our multidimensional view of the U.S. economy reveals more reasons to be optimistic for the economic recovery in 2014," said Paul Ballew, chief data and analytics officer, D&B. "Although we anticipate continued challenges, in the past year the economy has come a long way in addressing structural imbalances and putting the U.S. on a healthy trajectory of growth."

Source: D&B