The elections may be over, but there's still uncertainty about how the Affordable Care Act will affect small businesses.
Michael Rogers is with the Small Business Association of Michigan. He says the biggest provisions of the ACA won't go into effect until 2014, but employers will soon have to make a lot of decisions about how the changes in health insurance will affect them.
"There's no one-size-fits-all," Rogers says. "It's going to impact every small business differently, depending on the number of employees they have."
Rogers says a survey shows Michigan's small business owners are optimistic about the future. But employers also said despite Michigan's 9.1 percent unemployment rate, they're having some trouble finding qualified workers in all areas -- from high-tech to entry level jobs.
Rogers says a new survey in January may reflect business owners' concerns about spending and national government debt before they accelerate their growth and hiring plans.
Michigan has about 850,000 small businesses, which are companies with 500 or fewer employees, Rogers says. They employ over half of all Michigan workers; 99% of all businesses in the state are small businesses.