Small business owners who have been considering taking out a small business loan so they can afford to set up a payroll system may want to begin the process now, as recent indexes show organizations are starting to feel confident enough to hire again.
Statistics show favorable small business growth
According to Intuit’s recent Small Business Employment and Revenue Index – a statistics-based small-business trends and behavior data analysis report – hiring by small organizations went up slightly during March. Job creation by businesses that employ up to 19 workers increased by 0.06 percent, which means small businesses added 10,000 new jobs to the U.S marketplace, for an annualized growth rate of 0.7 percent. Small businesses are currently responsible for hiring an average of 20 million people in total.
Another positive sign was an increase in pay for small business workers. The research showed that monthly compensation for employees also rose last March by 0.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, which averages out to about $12. The same percentage of growth was also reported in February, which was up 0.4 percent from January.
A third point the index highlights is monthly hours worked by small business employees, which climbed by 0.2 percent, or about 18 more minutes of work a month. Time on the clock increased by 12 minutes in February, according to the report.
Small business revenue still stagnant
Although a slight increase in hiring is a sign of progress for the U.S. economy, small business revenue growth has remained relatively unmoved since profits dropped in February. The construction industry was the only sector to see any type of rise in returns.
Additionally, small business hiring continues to lag behind overall hiring increases throughout the nation.
“National employment is growing slowly, and small-business employment is growing even more slowly,” Susan Woodward, a financial economist who helped Intuit create the indexes, said. “While overall employment has risen 4.5 percent in three years, small-business employment has risen only 1.4 percent over the same three years – an annual rise of half a percent per year.”
Employees still more optimistic overall
The slight boost in hiring did seem to marginally boost worker confidence in the economy. The Randstad Employee Confidence Index showed that employee confidence overall rose from 53.5 in February to 53.9 in March
Slightly more encouraging, employee confidence in the organization that employed them shot up to 63 percent this March from February’s 56 percent, the poll showed.
Businesses that need funding to pay employees should consult with industry leader National Funding about obtaining a small business loan or merchant cash advance to keep the business running smoothly.
