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Until the last two weeks or so, most economic news was on the order of "Things don't suck anymore." There's starting to be some signs that the recession has moved into something resembling an economic recovery and perhaps at some point the statement move to "Things are starting to look OK."

And in this market, the statement by ADP CEO Gary Butler that his payroll services giant would accelerate hiring of 300 to 400 sales reps is in that category of things starting to look OK. Anbody hiring is a good sign. But for ADP, it was a sign of getting back to normal. The company usually hires for the July beginning of its fiscal year and it is optimistic enough to be ready to ramp that up and resume a normal pattern.

Small business usually leads the way out of a recession, as Butler commented. And it's something that has been heard in the last few months when Intuit CEO Brad Smith has addressed analysts and investors. Smith noted that in most recessions, small business formation increases. The problem has been with their credit cards stretched and bank credit tight, those layed off from corporations, the kinds of people who start their own business, haven't been able to do so in great numbers..

There have been consistent reports from the accounting software resellers that business got better after Labor Day and while it hasn't always been great, it hasn't been awful. Some companies that haven't tightened expenses and rediscovered business discipline had good final months in 2009.

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