JUDY WOODRUFF:

Gwen has just given us a good overview of how the overall U.S. economy is faring.

Let's take a look now at a much smaller sector of it. It involves that ever-increasing number of small businesses, shops and start-ups around the country that are a bit hipper, more skilled, locally based and creative in their approaches.

But, as popular as they may be, are they generating more jobs? And are they well-paying ones?

Our economics correspondent, Paul Solman, explores those questions and others, part of his reporting on Making Sense of financial news.