“The economy has definitely slowed; job growth will be far short of that needed to reduce the unemployment rate.”

Welcome to the “recovery.” Economic policies have consequences, and poor economic policies have miserable consequences.

The index, compiled from a survey of NFIB members, shows that business owners are concerned about the economy. The number of owners expecting business conditions to improve in six months fell 8 percentage points and the number expecting their sales to rise slid 5 percentage points. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed say their biggest problem is weak sales.

Owners said they are scaling back plans to hire and to buy equipment. That’s a troubling sign for the U.S. labor market, which is struggling to gain traction.