The following material was sent ot SMC Business Councils from one of our sources. It has some great information on small business and employment stats. We hope you find it insightful.
The Small Business Scorecard for January 2012, a nationally recognized economic indicator that tracks the health of the U.S. small business economy is out.
Nationwide, 2012 began with month-over-month hiring down 0.2%, but paycheck size remaining flat. Small business owners still remain positive, as optimism increased to 65% from 63% in December, continuing to rise from an all-time low of 33% back in September.
Michael Alter, SurePayroll President and CEO, indicates the following may be contributing to the direction of the small business economy:
- The upcoming presidential election has small business owners wondering what direction the country will go in.
- The uncertainty about Greece and the Euro, the U.S. economy not growing as much as previously thought, combined with the gridlock in Washington have put the brakes on the small business economy.
“It’s frustrating to see us shift back into neutral,” Alter said. “There was a lot of excitement heading into 2012. We were finally starting to accelerate; there was a lot of optimism about the future. To see this shift is frustrating, but like small business owners, I’m still hopeful because one month doesn’t make a year. We just need the right opportunities for growth.”
For a more comparative regional look at hiring and wage trends, the Scorecard includes data on the following key MSAs:
|
Metro Area
|
Hiring Index (#of employees) |
Paycheck size |
|
Atlanta |
0.4% |
-0.2% |
|
Boston |
-1.1% |
-6.0% |
|
Charlotte |
0.8% |
-2.2% |
|
Chicago |
-0.2% |
-0.7% |
|
Cincinnati |
-1.2% |
0.6% |
|
Cleveland |
-0.6% |
2.2% |
|
Columbus |
0.4% |
-2.0% |
|
Dallas |
-0.3% |
1.9% |
|
Denver |
-0.7% |
1.0% |
|
Detroit |
0.6% |
-0.1% |
|
Greensboro |
0.4% |
-1.6% |
|
Houston |
-0.9% |
0.9% |
|
Indianapolis |
-0.7% |
-0.9% |
|
Las Vegas |
-0.4% |
-0.4% |
|
Los Angeles |
-0.7% |
0.3% |
|
Miami |
-0.8% |
2.1% |
|
Minneapolis |
-0.3% |
0.1% |
|
Nashville |
0.0% |
0.7% |
|
New York |
0.0% |
0.3% |
|
Norfolk |
0.5% |
0.7% |
|
Orlando |
0.6% |
0.8% |
|
Philadelphia |
-1.1% |
2.2% |
|
Phoenix |
0.5% |
-1.7% |
|
Pittsburgh |
-2.3% |
1.5% |
|
Portland |
-0.6% |
0.2% |
|
Raleigh-Durham |
0.6% |
-1.3% |
|
Richmond |
-0.5% |
-0.4% |
|
Sacramento |
-0.2% |
-0.5% |
|
San Antonio |
1.0% |
0.1% |
|
San Diego |
-0.6% |
-1.1% |
|
San Francisco |
-0.2% |
0.1% |
|
Seattle |
-0.9% |
0.3% |
|
St. Louis |
0.3% |
0.4% |
|
Tampa |
0.2% |
-0.7% |
|
Washington DC |
-0.1% |
-0.2% |
To view the full Scorecard including YTD and historical data, please visit http://www.surepayroll.com/scorecard/ after 4pm EST today. For an explanation of what the various monthly economic reports released mean, read Michael’s blog post “The Skinny on Monthly Economic Reports” at http://www.inc.com/michael-alter/the-skinny-on-monthly-economic-reports-.html.