Over the last few years, the economy has slowly but steadily brought more of the millions of small businesses across the country onto more solid financial ground, and that, in turn, has often led to more hiring. This was a trend which certainly continued through the end of March, as firms brought on new workers at a rate not seen in some time.
There was an increase of about 0.18 workers per small business in the month of March, making it one of the best single-month numbers observed in quite a while, according to the latest Small Business Economic Trends Survey from the National Federation for Independent Business. However, that increase came even as the percentage of owners who said they would increase employment slid 5 percent to a reading of negative-1. Likewise, the percentage of owners who were trying to hire or already doing so slid 3 points, to half of all entrepreneurs.
“Reported hiring in March was one of the best readings in the last decade eclipsing the substantial readings in January and February, but this might have reflected the heavy hiring over the past three months,” said William Dunkelberg, chief economist for the NFIB. “The net percent of business owners planning to create new jobs is down 2 points to 10 percent, which is still a solid number.”
What else could have had an impact?
However, it should be noted that even with the mixed views of how hiring went this month, the numbers seen across the country were probably a little better than could have reasonably been expected, the report said. Dunkelberg noted that much of the country has been hit with some rather harsh winter weather in the last few months, and that could have put a serious crimp in some owners’ plans when it comes to bringing more workers aboard. While hiring might not have been too badly affected, it’s very probable that much of the hiring process was affected by deep snow and bitter cold that belted the northern states, and particularly the Northeast.
The more owners can do to make sure their bottom lines are as strong as possible, the better off they’re likely to be in terms of being able to bring aboard more workers when they want to. One way to achieve those ends is to shop around for more affordable small business insurance coverage, including policies for liability insurance, to potentially free up thousands annually.
