Increasingly encouraged by the performance of local and national economies and their own growth prospects, small business owners have slowly started adding to payroll to expand and bolster operations. A recent measure of small business hiring showed some local gains, and for companies with new employees, covering potentially tightened cash flow with working capital is a beneficial strategy.
Job creation up, but still not at full strength
SurePayroll’s May 2013 Small Business Scorecard showed optimism among small business owners rose to 75 percent from 59 percent in February. It’s the fifth-straight month confidence has grown and demonstrates a notable turnaround from September 2012’s low of 45 percent. Despite that optimism, hiring decreased month-over-month 0.3 percent.
“We appear to be in a jobless recovery,” said Michael Alter, SurePayroll CEO and president. “Many small businesses are doing well and feeling good about the economy with optimism on the rise, however there hasn’t been sufficient growth to hire.”
When asked by the survey what incentivized them to hire, 68 percent of small business owners cited increased demand and too much day-to-day responsibility as key drivers of hiring.
“The demand isn’t there and small businesses have become more efficient, which often means less hiring,” Alter continued. “For those looking to hire, it’s not easy to find the specific critical skills you need. Until we see more demand, whether it’s from new businesses or an increasingly robust housing market, we’re not likely to get the full recovery we want.”
Job creation was flat across the nation, except in the South, where hiring actually picked up by 1.6 percent. Year-over-year, hiring is down 1.7 percent, yet paychecks are up 0.2 percent. The Midwest experienced the largest such growth during May, as pay per check values increased 4.3 from this time last year.
Of the major metro areas tracked by SurePayroll, the Raleigh-Durham market saw the greatest year-over-year increase in employment, registering 12.7 percent growth. In regards to paychecks, Detroit employers experienced 26 percent growth from May 2012.
For small business employers who have added staff in order to counter greater demand, National Funding, a small business lender, stands at the ready to assist entrepreneurs in effectively managing cash flow with easy access to a merchant cash advance.
