Philip Noftsinger, CPA and business unit president for CBIZ Payroll Services, says, “While we focus solely on small businesses, our monthly data is very consistent with other employment indicators offered by the marketplace. Most of the statistical information we are seeing related to employment is showing a “no-change” result, and our metric is no different, showing a very mild decline.”
Additional take-away points from the August data set include:
- At a glance: Of the companies that were surveyed, the data shows that 26 percent reported a decrease in employee headcount while 23 percent increased staffing. 51 percent of the companies involved in the survey maintained their number of employees.
- A plan for growth: According to the first CBIZ Small Business Market Survey, a survey offered to the companies involved in the SBEI, almost 28 percent are looking to deploy growth strategies in the coming year, focused primarily on marketing and e-commerce.
- What to watch: In terms of employment, more than 49 percent of the market survey respondents were looking to add workers in the next three months, while more than 37 percent indicated that they will maintain their current workforce levels. That may not be enough to keep pace with the growth of the labor pool, translating to either consistent unemployment levels or the potential for a mild improvement over the next quarter.
“Anecdotally, we are seeing continued confirmation that consumer demand and the overall economic attitude of consumers as the top reasons affecting growth among small businesses,” Noftsinger explains.
