After tracking trends in trade over the past month, Ohio-based CBIZ’s Small Business Employment Index (SBEI) reported a 2.26 percent drop — a substantial decrease — in hiring patterns among U.S. firms employing 300 or fewer individuals.

The plummet immediately follows an all-time record increase during the month of June. While agriculture and finance reported positive growth, health care, hospitality, construction, food services, retail, life sciences and technology posted negative numbers overall.

Geographically, the greatest decline took place in the Western U.S. with a 4.36 percent drop. The heartland saw a 2.38 percent decline, followed by the Southeast and Northeast at 1.7 percent and 0.54 percent less, respectively.

“Small businesses are yet to demonstrate their desire to hire employees on a consistent basis and are instead hiring in pulses,” Philip Noftsinger, CBIZ Employee Services Organization president, said. “The reasons behind this likely vary from a declining confidence in the U.S. economy to sustainably grow, to the inability of Congress to make discernible progress on fiscal policy decisions that will impact employee healthcare costs.”

Financial and business consulting provider CBIZ Inc. is based in Cleveland, Ohio and operates over 100 offices nationwide. It manages payroll functions for over 4,000 clients in a diverse cross-section of industries.