December job growth weak at U.S. small businesses

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Job growth in December at small businesses remained weak, with more employers planning to cut jobs than add, according to a business group survey on Friday.

A slowdown in layoffs would aid job creation, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) said. "But there is no real strength in job growth because there is no real strength in spending," the group said in a statement.

Over the next three months, 15 percent of businesses plan to reduce employment and 8 percent plan to create new jobs, the group said.

On Friday, the Labor Department will release the December non-farm payrolls report. Economists forecast that the U.S. economy would show no jobs were lost, according to the latest Reuters survey, compared with a loss of 11,000 jobs in the previous month.

The unemployment rate remains stubbornly high, with a median forecast at 10.1 percent, just above the 10.0 percent rate in November.

The NFIB said there is no indication that job growth will be strong enough to dramatically reduce the unemployment rate.

(Reporting by Nancy Waitz; Editing by Kenneth Barry)