The national economy continues to improve significantly these days, and as a consequence more companies are being put in a position to hire once again. That’s certainly true of smaller businesses in particular, as these firms are now poised to bring on more workers in a way that other, larger companies might not be.
For instance, in the month of January non-farm, privately owned small businesses – those with between one and 49 employees – added 78,000 new workers nationwide, according to the latest ADP National Employment Data. While that number fell a little bit short of the 95,000 seen for medium businesses (with between 50 and 499 workers), it still outstripped the 40,000 hires by the largest businesses, which have at least 500 employees.
“Employment posted another solid gain in January, although the pace of growth is slower than in recent months,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. “Businesses in the energy and
supplying industries are already scaling back payrolls in reaction to the collapse in oil prices, while industries benefiting from the lower prices have been slower to increase their hiring. All indications are that the job market will continue to improve in 2015.”
A closer look
Meanwhile, it’s important to note that small business hiring was more or less evenly split between companies with one to 19 employees, and those with 20 to 49, the report said. The latter group brought aboard 40,000 new workers, while the former hired some 38,000. However, it’s important to note that hiring for these companies, while increased, was not quite so robust as it was just a month earlier; in December firms of the same size added about 115,000 workers.
Fortunately, current levels of employment are more or less in line with those seen prior to the economic downturn, the report said. While there may be fluctuations from one month to the next, the good news is that this may indicate an overall healthy business environment, and one that’s only likely to keep improving as time goes on.
Owners who want to position their companies to take on more workers in the coming months might want to think about the ways in which they can cut costs. By finding more affordable small business insurance, including policies for general liability insurance, for instance, they might be able to do a lot more in terms of freeing up significant funds that can be used to improve other aspects of their business.
