Small business owners are stepping into the new year with a lot more confidence.

Jennifer Grasz with Career Builder says one-in-four employers plan to hire more full-time, permanent employees in 2012.

"When you look at companies that have 50 or fewer employees, 16% plan to add full-time, permanent staff in the new year," says Grasz. "That's up from 14%."

She says companies are in a better financial position today - they want to grow their businesses and want to improve their productivity.

"They're going to need additional headcounts to meet market demands," says Grasz. "I don't think we're going to see huge leaps in hiring, but I do think we're going to see gradual improvements across categories." Engineering, health care, information technology, sales, customer service and business development are the fields with the most available jobs.

We heard from small business owners on the WOKV Facebook page. Priscilla from Jacksonville says, she and her husband plan to make one, maybe two, new hires by March. Scott wrote that his payment center will be hiring another employee in 2012.