Business Examiner
February 4, 2005

The nation's small-business economy had a slow January, according to new data from employment services provider SurePayroll.

Nationally, small-business jobs increased by just 0.1 percent in January, which equates to a 1.2 percent annual growth rate for small-business jobs — far short of the 4.4 percent growth reported for 2004, and much less than the 4 percent annual growth in small business predicting for 2005.

Average paychecks, meanwhile, headed in the opposite direction, decreasing by 0.5 percent in January. At that rate, the average small business paycheck would drop 5.8 percent in 2005. In 2004, average check size dropped by 5.3 percent.

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