"It's continuously gotten worse because there's more and more regulation. And it's tough for people to get into business, especially small business," he said. "If I started Subway today, Subway would not exist."
(Read More: Subway 'Wouldn't Exist' If Started Today Due to Regulations: Founder Deluca)
'Little Reason to Hire'
While Main Street has remained under pressure, corporate profits broadly have been rising, and the stock market has reached new highs—making some small-business owners feel even more isolated.
"Once again, our bifurcated economy may have large firms doing well but the Main Street owners not sharing in the gains and finding little reason to take on new employees. Owners are still pessimistic and see little reason to hire," NFIB's Dunkelberg said.
In a separate Labor Department report Thursday on weekly jobless claims, Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose to its highest level in four months last week, again suggesting the labor market recovery lost some steam in March. (Read More: Weekly Jobless Claims Get Weaker as Outlook Dims)
America's Long-Term Unemployed
"For millions of America's workers, the economic recovery remains more theoretical than real," Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, said in a statement.
An unprecedented 4 in 10 jobless workers—nearly 5 million people—have been out of work for 27 weeks—nearly six months—or longer, pushing the average duration of unemployment up to 37 weeks, nearly 16 weeks longer than during the worst of the 1980s downturn, according to the law project's data.
Bottom line: As the recovery tries to gain traction, there may be only modest support from new Main Street jobs—a traditional driver of past recoveries.
(Read More: Little Main St. Hiring, Despite Uptick in Optimism)
—By CNBC's Heesun Wee; Follow her on Twitter @heesunwee
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