Small Business Finance News
Small Businesses Slowed On Hiring In August
Written by Jenna Weiner
Published: 8/29/2011
The new monthly small business index for August shows that, while the numbers don't reveal another recession, they also don't show signs of a 'robust recovery.'
While 35,000 jobs were created by small businesses in August, those employees worked fewer hours and earned less money, according to the Intuit Small Business Employment Index. Small business employment grew by 0.18 percent in August, which equals an annual growth of 2.2 percent. However, hours worked dropped 0.3 percent and compensation fell 0.08 percent.
Those trends are the opposite of what was experienced in July, according to an economist who worked with Intuit on the monthly report. "From this month's numbers, we don't see a new recession, but we don't see a robust recovery either," Susan Woodward said. "The labor market for smaller businesses is still soft."
The average hourly employee at companies with 20 or fewer employees worked 108 hours in August, or 24.9 hours per workweek. The compensation they received for that month was $2,649, down from July's number of $2,651. At that rate, their annual compensation would be about $31,800, Intuit said.
As of July, the country's unemployment rate was 9.1 percent - down from June's number, but higher than this year's lowest rate of 8.8 percent, experienced in March.
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