(Bloomberg) — Sterling Risk Advisors, an Atlanta-based property and casualty insurance broker with 86 employees, has added 13 workers since June and will probably hire 10 to 15 more this year.

“We are committed to growing,” said Doug Rieder, 50, president and co-founder. “We feel a lot better about business. We are pretty bullish right now.”

Small business, responsible for most American job creation, is finally gaining momentum, giving an expansion approaching its sixth anniversary some legs and leading an acceleration in job creation. Confidence is near a post-2007 peak for small companies, construction is recovering and credit conditions are easing.

“Small businesses are now doing better than big business” with a “fairly positive” outlook for growth and employment, said Jim O’Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York. “In general, small businesses were hurt more by the credit crunch than big firms and that headwind for the recovery has become a tailwind as the banking sector has strengthened and eased lending standards.”

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