Mary Crane at Forbes.com says, "Which way is the economy going? — if executive salaries at smaller companies are any ........., the answer is sideways at best."

According to a new small-business compensation survey released today by Salary.com, ......... base salaries for most executives at small firms increased this year over last.

The average paycheck for marketing managers rose 4.7% to $136,100; head ......... counters got a 3% bump, up to $155,000; and plant managers took home $80,000, or 1.8% more.

The annual survey ......... 11 job functions (not including 'owner') at more than 1,800 organizations, both privately and publicly held, employing one to 500 employees.

Ken Kerr, chief executive and financial officer of Kettley Publishing, a small consumer-education company ......... in Newport Beach, Calif., has filled out the www.Salary.com survey for the past two years.

He says the survey results ......... with what he's seen in the California small-business community and in his own 30-person firm.

"In this region, we're seeing the economy coming back strong; the tide raises all ......... — small businesses have really felt the impact of that," he says.

Bill Dunkelberg, chief economist for the National Federation of Independent Business is optimistic, too; he says the labor market is the ......... it's been in thirty years, sans the dot-com years.

The bad news: while salaries have been on the rise, ......... too has inflation.

For the trailing 12 months ended in August, the Consumer Price Index ticked up nearly 4% — ......... salary gains in real-dollar terms.