SurePayroll Scorecard - 2004 - October - National Small Business Trends

National Small Business Trends

Small businesses continued to increase employee headcount. The national SurePayroll Hiring Index, which measures the number of employees within small businesses, clocked in at 10,323 at the end of October. That was up 0.7% from the September close, and the Hiring Index is up 3.2% for the year.

Small business paychecks, which have trended downward all year, were flat in October. The SurePayroll Pay Index was at 967 at the end of September and was at 966 at the end of October. Year to date, the SurePayroll Pay Index is down 3.4% for the year. But, the virtually flat change for October was a pleasant surprise, possibly indicating an end to salary deflation for the year and perhaps even a reversal back to historic salary levels.

The SurePayroll Scorecard data on a monthly basis since the beginning of the year can be found in the table below.

SurePayroll Hiring Index SurePayroll Pay Index 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 13,000 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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