Could this be a good sign? CareerBuilder’s latest nationwide survey, released today, shows that small businesses will be hiring in the second half of 2010. Considering small business is one of the major drivers for economic recovery and job growth, I think the answer’s a definite …hopefully?

Findings from the survey of more than 1,300 employers in businesses with 500 or fewer employees indicate that in the second half of the year, 32 percent of companies with 500 or fewer employees plan to add new employees.  Twenty-four percent of companies with 50 or fewer employees said the same.

Seeing these plans for growth mean not only good things for small businesses, but should come as good news about the state of the economy overall. In a statement for the press release, Brent Rasmussen, President of CareerBuilder North America, said, “Historically, it has been the small business sector that has created the most jobs at the end of an economic downturn, allowing the overall job market to bounce back faster.”

And according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses employ just over half of all private sector employees, account for more than half of nonfarm private gross domestic product, and have generated 64 percent of net new jobs over the past 15 years.

For more on these findings, see the full press release.