Small Business Employment, Pay, and Revenue Grow in December, Hours Worked Decline

 In Intuit’s most recent Small Business and Revenue Indexes, U.S. Small businesses were found to have added 30,000 new jobs in December, a 0.14 percent increase over November. Employees also saw a 0.15 percent increase in monthly compensation, up to an average monthly pay of $2,782; a $4 increase from November. Hourly workers worked five fewer minutes in December, compared to November’s figure.

The small business revenue index revealed:

• Revenues per small business increased by 0.03 percent in November, approximately 3.5 percent when annualized.
• The Other Services category showed the largest growth, up 0.45 percent. Construction followed with growth of 0.4 percent.
• The real estate and rental and leasing service sector showed the only decline in November, dropping 0.18 percent.

The rate of small business employment expansion, 1.7 percent on an annualized basis, is below the 2.8 percent rise last month for the economy overall. Economy-wide, employment has risen 8 percent since the worst part of the recession, but only 4.4 percent for small business. This reflects the very slow recovery of construction, which is a bigger fraction of small business than of the overall economy.

Small business employment rose in nearly all states reported individually by Intuit. The states with the largest expansion were Washington, Virginia, Oregon and Nevada, which were all also among the biggest gainers in October and November. States losing small business employment were Michigan, Massachusetts, and Ohio, all of which lost small business jobs in October and November. In most states, hours worked fell but total compensation rose slightly, reflecting the strong rise in hourly wages.