Nothing lasts forever. That goes for recessions as well as good times.

The  City Business Journals Network, an organization based in Charlotte, N.C. — of which the Business Times is an affiliated member — reports that small- and medium-sized businesses are more optimistic about the economy than at any time in the past year. In a recent national survey, some 68 percent of business owners said they are “very concerned” about the economy, a figure that’s sharply lower than the 80 percent figure recorded last November and the 77 percent figure reported in March.

Business owners are not yet ready to say things have turned around, with most saying it will be a couple of years before the economy returns to health. And a separate survey of financial executives by the accounting firm Grant Thornton suggests that California business owners are more pessimistic than their counterparts in national surveys.

But 52 percent of business owners in the City Business Journals survey said they expect conditions to be at least “a little better” in the next 12 months, a welcome sign of optimism in a difficult year.