The economic recovery seen in the last few years has slowly but surely trickled down to the millions of small businesses across the country, putting them in better financial positions going forward. As a consequence, many of these companies are now in a better position to hire than they were just a few years ago, and are taking the opportunity to bring more workers aboard.
In the month of January, there was a slight uptick in hiring among small businesses across the country, according to the latest Small Business Jobs Index from Paychex and IHS. However, that wasn’t enough to offset the more significant downturns seen in November and December, bringing the national average over the last three months to minus-0.19 percent. Fortunately, January’s increase of 0.09 percent was the largest seen since last April, and may portend good things to come for the sector.
“The Paychex/IHS Small Business Jobs Index began 2015 on an upswing, gaining 0.09 percent during January,” said James Diffley, the chief regional economist for IHS. “Though still below 2014 levels, at 100.65, small business employment growth remains robust.”
Potential good news
In all, the study looked at hiring in 20 states during January, and of those, 15 saw increases in hiring, the report said. Consequently, it’s believed that hiring may soon reach levels not seen since the final three months of 2013. In January, Indiana had the single largest growth rate, but the general feeling is that the number came in unsustainably high. However, like many other states, it has seen robust improvement for some time now, so it’s not as though entrepreneurs there are about to struggle any time soon. Meanwhile, Georgia is now experiencing its best rate of growth since 2006.
In terms of regional progress, it was mostly the upper Midwest and Southeast that enjoyed improvements, the report said. The biggest average steps forward came in Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee, at a jump of 0.41 percent. North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri weren’t far behind at 0.33 percent. The Mountain states, however, suffered a huge decline of 1.19 percent.
Owners who want to position themselves to put their companies in the best situations going forward may want to think about the ways in which their firms spend money. For instance, if they can find more affordable small business insurance policies – including those for liability insurance – they may be able to save thousands annually.
