Confidence among U.S. small businesses dropped to a 13-month low in August as fewer companies projected better economic conditions and improving sales, Bloomberg reported. 

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) optimism index decreased to 88.1, the weakest reading since July 2010 and the sixth consecutive decline. The reading was 89.9 in July.

The number of small business owners saying they expect the economy to improve six months from now fell to the lowest level since 1980.

Small business owners have grown less confident that conditions will improve as stagnant job growth weighs on consumer sentiment. Households “uncertain about the future” won’t “engage in the spending that would help lead us out of the recession,” said William Dunkelberg, the NFIB’s chief economist, in a statement. 

The NFIB report was based on 926 small business owner respondents through Aug. 29. Small businesses, defined as an independent enterprise employing up to 500 people, have created 65 percent of all new jobs in the past 17 years, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.