Andrea Cecil
The Daily Record
May 26, 2004

Maryland small businesses grew on average to more than four employees during the first quarter of this year, according to a national payroll company.

Skokie, Ill.-based SurePayroll this week released its first-ever Small Business Scorecard based on actual payroll payments to employees and contractors -- different from many employment economic indicators that use surveys to gather data.

Five-year-old SurePayroll derived its data from its more than 10,000 small-business clients.

Nationwide, the number of employees on small-business payrolls rose 2.3 percent to an average of 5.6 employees per business compared with 2003's fourth quarter, SurePayroll found. In Maryland, the number rose 3.55 percent to an average of 4.6 employees per business.

There were roughly 140,000 small businesses in Maryland in 2003, according to the state Department of Business and Economic Development.

"When it comes to talking about what drives the economy, we feel that small business has never gotten the credit it deserves," said SurePayroll spokesman Ken Gaebler. "There's a shroud of mystery around how small businesses are doing. Large public companies are required by law to make their information public. As such, they get the bulk of attention when it comes to discussing how the economy is doing."

One is more likely to get a better assessment of how the economy is doing from the owner of the local dry cleaner than the chief executive of General Electric, he said.

The number of permanent employees nationwide rose 2.6 percent nationwide, compared with 2003's fourth quarter. In Maryland, permanent employees increased by 28.26 percent, according to SurePayroll.

"The shift toward permanent workers and away from temporary workers suggests an improving economy in which small businesses are comfortable making longer-term hiring decisions," Gaebler said. "We've hit bottom, and now we are on the upswing."

SurePayroll officials decided to make the data public to help businesses, he said. In the past, the data was only available to payroll companies, tax services and the IRS.

"We feel like the data is meaningful because historically much of the projections about the economy involved surveying people," which sometimes results in misunderstandings and flawed results, Gaebler said.

"When it comes to payroll data, it sort of is what it is," he said. "There's no gray area to a paycheck."

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