Reuters (07/03/13) Paige Gance

Small businesses reduced their work forces for the second consecutive month in June. The net change in employment fell by 0.09 employees per company after declining 0.04 in May, according to the National Federation of Independent Business.

“A higher percentage of the owners hired, but those that reduced employment made cuts large enough to put employment growth among existing firms in the red,” NFIB said Wednesday in a statement. While 11% of small businesses added an average of 3.6 employees per company over the past few months, 12% of companies cut an average of 4.3 employees.