NEW YORK — The new year brings new overtime rules for employers including small businesses and in turn, a pay raise for an estimated 1.3 million workers.

As a tight labor market makes filling positions more difficult, 26% of U.S. small-business owners plan to increase pay in coming months, the most since a record in 1989, according to a National Federation of Independent Business report out Dec. 5.

NEW YORK — Many small companies tied to the housing market are seeing a slowdown in business, one that’s forecast to continue well into 2020.

U.S. small-business sentiment fell to near the lowest level of Donald Trump’s presidency, as tariffs and economic uncertainty increasingly weigh on the outlook for owners across the country.

Optimism among small companies in the United States improved in February, snapping a five-month losing streak that was the longest in two decades on brighter views of future conditions.