Small businesses continued to hire in August, though employees worked fewer hours and were paid less, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to Intuit Inc.s’ monthly small business employment index, small-business employment rose 0.18 percent between July 24 and Aug. 23, which equates to an annual growth rate of 2.2 percent.

Hours worked during the period fell 0.3 percent to a monthly average of 108 hours, while compensation declined 0.08 percent to an average monthly pay of $2,649.

Small businesses created 35,000 new jobs in the time period, and have created 540,000 jobs since October 2009.

“From this month’s numbers, we don’t see a new recession, but we don’t see a robust recovery either. The labor market for smaller businesses is still soft,” said Intuit economist Susan Woodward in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

The index is based on anonymous online employment data from about 69,000 small business employers, each with fewer than 20 employees.