SurePayroll Scorecard - 2004 - December - National Small Business Trends

National Small Business Trends

Small businesses increased employee headcount in 2004. The national SurePayroll Hiring Index, which measures the number of employees within small businesses, ended the year at 10,435. That was up 0.7% from the November close. The Hiring Index was up 4.4% for the year.

Small business paychecks, which have trended downward all year, were slightly down in December. The SurePayroll Pay Index was at 962 at the end of November and was at 952 at the end of December, representing a 1.0% drop. Year to date, the SurePayroll Pay Index was down 4.8% in 2004.

The monthly SurePayroll Scorecard data for 2004 can be found in the table below.

SurePayroll Hiring Index SurePayroll Pay Index December '04 10,435 952 November '04 10,361 962 October '04 10,323 966 September '04 10,252 967 August '04 10,192 978 July '04 10,152 982 June '04 10,105 988 May '04 10,067 990 April '04 10,031 994 March '04 10,008 997 February '04 10,011 995 January '04 10,000 1,000

About the ScoreCard
The SurePayroll Hiring Index and the SurePayroll Pay Index are generated as part of SurePayroll’s Small Business Scorecard, an economic indicator that tracks the health of the U.S. small business economy. The Small Business Scorecard is generated from actual payroll data – paychecks issued to contractors and employees – for over 14,000 small businesses nationwide.

Questions regarding the SurePayroll Small Business Scorecard can be directed to Michael Alter. Michael can be reached at malter@surepayroll.com or by phone at (847) 676-8420 ext. 7229.

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