Hiring or not?

Below are survey results from the American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor. Compare 2006 to 2008. Small businesses that did not plan to hire or even planned to cut back remain at the same percentage level (40% to 50%). The difference is that businesses that might be hiring today prefer to report that they are not sure (mid-twenties today versus mid-teens in 2006).
There could be many explanations but the obvious ones are:

• Small businesses really do not know where the wind might take them. Which is concerning because a small business is usually affected by microeconomics and -- beyond the financing piece -- small businesses with solid models should know exactly what their plan is.
• Small businesses are sandbagging and are not willing to openly brag about hiring.
• A third of small businesses are usually very clear on their hiring plan regardless of the economic environment. It is just the ones that are planning to cut-down that prefer not to respond clearly to the survey.