National Small Business Trends
Year-to-date, small businesses have increased employee headcount by 0.6%. The national SurePayroll Hiring Index, which measures the number of employees within small businesses, ended August at 10,494, a 17-point increase from July. We closed 2004 at 10,435.
Small business owners never give up. We've had six straight months of increased hiring. In the past seventeen months, we've only had one "down" month.
On an annualized basis, we are tracking on a 0.9% increase in small business size. That's not nearly as good as the growth we experienced in 2004, but things could be much worse.
Small business paychecks were down in August. The SurePayroll Pay Index clocked in at 930 at the end of August, a five-point drop from July.
Small business salaries are now down 2.3% year to date. August's 2.3% year-to-date drop translates to an annualized decline of 3.4%.
In 2004, small business salaries dropped 4.8% on average. Based on August's data, we will have a smaller salary drop in 2005 than we had in 2004. Still, although things are getting better for the small business employee relative to 2004, dropping salaries can take their toll on the economy. In effect, when salaries fall and other prices stay the same, it's stealth inflation. You've got fewer dollars in your pocket to buy the things you need.
The monthly SurePayroll Scorecard data for August 2005 can be found in the table below:
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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 15,000 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.
Small Business Scorecards Archive:
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2008 |
2007 |
2006 |
2005 |
2004
