Margins are extremely tight for most small businesses, which is why the recession has hit them especially hard. On Numbers defines a small business as any private-sector establishment with fewer than 100 employees. Their limited size can make it difficult to maneuver when times get tough. Substantial layoffs, for example, are rarely an option. There were 6.96 million small businesses in the nation's 938 metropolitan and micropolitan areas as of 2008, the first full year of the recession. That figure dropped 2 percent to 6…

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