This translates to approximately 40,000 new jobs nationwide in July, a decrease from June’s revised estimate of 45,000 jobs. Since the growth trend began in October 2009, small business jobs have increased by 330,000.
The Index’s new geographical measurement also revealed that small business employment is slightly up across most of the country. Although the pace of job growth slowed in July, both wages and hours worked increased by 0.7 and 0.9 percent respectively.
“While employment is up this month, it is, like last month, up less than the month before,” said Susan Woodward, the nationally recognized economist who worked with Intuit to create the Index. “While this slower growth rate is disheartening, the news is not all bad. Both compensation and hours worked are dramatically up, while employment is slightly up across most of the country. These latter signs indicate a continued general recovery despite slowing growth in employment.”
Substantial Increases in Compensation, Hours Worked
The data shows that workers made more money and worked longer hours. Compensation grew by 0.7 percent in July to $2,624 per month, up from a revised estimate of $2,606 per month in June.
Monthly hours worked also increased significantly by 0.9 percent in July to 109.1 hours, compared to a revised estimate of 108.2 hours in June. This translates to wages of about $31,500 per year for all employees, and a 25.2-hour work week for hourly employees.
“This is a big increase for compensation which, on an annual basis, would be nearly 10 percent per year,” Woodward said. “With inflation running so low, this is a substantial increase in real compensation. The increase in hours worked is also large –more than 10 percent if carried out over an entire year. It appears that small businesses are busy, and need additional help, but are asking their existing people to work more hours rather than hiring more people.”
Small Business Employment by Geography
The latest installment of the Intuit report also breaks down employment by divisions and states across the country. Mountain states saw the largest increase by percentage, followed by the South Atlantic and Pacific Coast. For the states in which the Index has more than 1,000 small firms represented, Maryland saw the greatest growth while New Jersey is the only state that saw a slight decrease in employment.
“Providing small business employment data by geography paints a clearer picture of where growth is occurring,” said Cameron Schmidt, vice president of Intuit’s Employee Management Solutions division. “It’s good to see a slight increase in employment growth for July in most parts of the country.”
