States Hardest Hit by Recession See Employment Gains in February
These are among the results for the
While employment grew slowly in February, average monthly hours worked decreased slightly by 0.04 percent, or six minutes, and average monthly compensation increased by 0.15 percent, or
The Index is based on figures from small businesses with fewer than 20 employees that use Intuit Online Payroll. More information on the index is available at index.intuit.com.
“We saw another month of tepid improvement for small businesses in February, echoing pretty much all of the other indicators of economic activity,” said
“Compensation is up very slightly in dollar terms, but adjusted for inflation, it is essentially flat. The hiring rate is slightly down on a seasonally adjusted basis, and sits at about half of what it was before the recession was underway. The low hiring rate reflects the reluctance of employees to leave their jobs in such an unsecure job market, so employers do not need to hire to replace them. This phenomenon is present in firms of all sizes, and is not unique to small firms.”
Based on January’s numbers and revised national employment data from the
Slight Decrease in Hours Worked, Increase in Compensation
Small business hourly employees worked an average of 108.5 hours in February, a slight decrease of 0.04 percent from 108.6 hours in January, making for a 25-hour workweek. Average monthly pay for all small business employees increased slightly to
Small Business Employment by Geography
The Intuit Index shows employment growth in all census divisions, except for the East North Central region.
“Interestingly, the biggest gains were seen in the states that have suffered most from the recession – the majority of the western states, plus Florida,” said Woodward. “The area around
|
U.S. Census Division |
Percent Change in Employment | ||
| East North Central | -0.03% | ||
| West North Central | 0.07% | ||
| Middle Atlantic | 0.11% | ||
| Mountain | 0.6% | ||
| |
0.15% | ||
| Pacific | 0.4% | ||
| South Atlantic | 0.3% | ||
| East South Central | 0.4% | ||
| West South Central | 0.4% |
Small Business Employment by U.S. Census Division continues to grow in most parts of the country. The data reflects employment from approximately 73,000 small business employers who use Intuit Online Payroll. The month-to-month changes are seasonally-adjusted and informative about the overall economy.
| State | Percent Change in Employment | ||
| |
1.0% | ||
| |
0.4% | ||
| |
0.5% | ||
| |
0.3% | ||
| |
-0.09% | ||
| |
-0.04% | ||
| |
0.3% | ||
| |
0.3% | ||
| |
-0.06% | ||
| |
0.2% | ||
| |
-0.18% | ||
| |
-0.16% | ||
| |
0.5% | ||
| |
0.6% | ||
| |
0.8% |
Small Business Employment by State is up for most states in which Intuit Online Payroll has more than 1,000 small business firms represented. The month-to-month changes are seasonally adjusted and informative about the overall economy.
About the Index
The Intuit Small Business Employment Index is based on aggregate and anonymous online employment data from approximately 73,000 small business employers, each with fewer than 20 employees. These small business employers use Intuit Online Payroll and represent a subset of the total Intuit Online Payroll user base. These smallest employers are important to the economy as they comprise 87 percent of the total U.S. private employer base and employ nearly 20 million people. More information is available at: index.intuit.com.
Intuit reports data for three categories: small business employment, compensation and hours worked. Intuit analyzes and publishes the data at the beginning of each month. The Index also includes employment data broken down by geography. As with the government data, there may be revisions to the Intuit Index numbers. These revisions are partly due to calculations using the latest month of new Intuit data. These calculations include re-computing seasonal factors and the moving average process used to obtain the curve, which can change the values for previously reported months. Changes to the data also arise from revisions to the government employment data that are used as inputs to the Intuit Index.
While the Intuit Small Business Employment Index offers macroeconomic insight about the economy generally, it does not indicate or represent changes in Intuit’s business results for any period.
The Index data reflects monthly employment activity in small businesses, and is adjusted to account for changes in Intuit’s Online Payroll customer base. The percent change is measured monthly using the change in employment for existing Intuit Online Payroll customers from one month to the next. The set of customers changes each month so the measurement is the change, for each pair of months, for customers who are present in both the earlier and the later month.
Quick Links
Intuit Small Business Employment Index: index.intuit.com
Intuit on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Intuit
Intuit Payroll on Twitter: www.twitter.com/IntuitPayroll
Intuit Small Business Blog: www.blog.intuit.com
About Intuit Payroll
Intuit is the No. 1 payroll provider with more than 1 million customers. The company provides a range of fast, easy and accurate payroll solutions to meet a variety of small business needs. These include do-it-yourself payroll solutions such as Intuit Online Payroll as well as do-it-for-me solutions such as Intuit Full Service Payroll. Intuit also offers easy-to-understand and affordable small business employee benefits and insurance including employee healthcare, 401(k) retirement plans and worker’s compensation insurance.
About
Founded in 1983, Intuit had annual revenue of
Intuit and the Intuit logo, among others, are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of
sharna_brockett@intuit.com
or
abrill@accesspr.com
Source:
| Copyright: | Copyright Business Wire 2012 |
| Source: | Business Wire, Inc. |
| Wordcount: | 1328 |
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