Small Business Employment Shows Steady Increase in September

 In the most recent issue of Intuit’s monthly Small Business Employment and Revenue Indexes, small businesses experienced increased growth in employment in September. Highlights from the report include:

• Small businesses added 10,000 new jobs in September, making for more than 715,000 jobs added since March 2010.
• Hourly small business employees saw a 0.1 percent decrease in monthly compensation, with average monthly pay reaching equivalent of $2,753, down $3 from August.
• Hourly employees worked an average of 108.3 hours in September, down approximately 24 minutes or 0.4 percent from August’s revised figure.
• Revenues per small business grew by 0.3 percent in August, roughly 3.1 percent when annualized.
• Real estate revenues have grown steadily over the past five months, reflecting an increase in home sales.

“Small business coped with additional demand in August by having its existing work force work more. In September, small businesses hired additional people and paid them more, but asked them to work less. In sum, this makes for two months of mild gains in the small business labor market,” said Susan Woodward, the economist who works with Intuit to create the Small Business Employment and Revenue Indexes. “Small business added 10,000 jobs this month after a flat previous month. We are continuing to see signs of a warming labor market.