The economic recovery of the last few years has been filtering through to small businesses slowly but surely, and the added benefit is often translating to more hiring for such companies. That trend continued, at least somewhat, through the end of August, with slight increases being observed in all aspects of the hiring process.
When compared with July’s numbers, August saw an across the board increase in employment, equivalent annual jobs growth, compensation, and hours worked by small business employees, according to the latest Intuit Small Business Indexes. While in most cases these were marginal, there was nonetheless an improvement on both monthly and annual bases.
For instance, employment only grew 0.01 percent from July’s number – which itself was up 0.03 percent – so the change was effectively non-existent, the report said. That is, however, equivalent to a slightly more significant increase of 0.1 percent annual growth (though that growth was down from the 0.4 percent jump seen a month earlier).
Meanwhile, small business employees saw more appreciable improvements in terms of both how much they were paid and how many hours they worked, the report said. There was a 0.6 percent increase in both these aspects of the small business hiring picture, with the average worker seeing monthly pay increase $16 to an average of $2,791, and hours worked increased to 109.8 from July’s 109.2.
Increases on an annual basis?
Meanwhile, it should be noted that these changes were even more appreciable when viewed year-over-year, the report said. For instance, the Small Business Employment Index’s August 2014 figure of 96.51 was up 0.8 percent from the previous 95.71, but it was really employees who saw the most benefit.
Over the course of the last year, small businesses paid their workers 2.8 percent more per month, the equivalent of an additional $73, the report said. Meanwhile, the number of hours worked ticked up as well, from 109.1.
Owners who want to position their companies – and their employees – for as much success as possible going forward might do well to consider the ways in which they can cut the firm’s ongoing costs. For instance, by finding more affordable small business insurance coverage, including errors and omissions insurance, entrepreneurs may be able to free up thousands of dollars that can then be devoted to other aspects of the firms, including hiring.
