MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Small business job growth continued in April with employment up in all nine U.S. census divisions. In addition, employees worked more hours and earned more money.
These are among the results of this month’s update of the Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq:INTU) Small Business Employment Index. The monthly report found that small business employment grew by 0.3 percent in April, equating to an annual growth rate of nearly 3.6 percent. This translates to approximately 60,000 new jobs for the month. The Index is based on figures from the country’s smallest businesses that use Intuit Online Payroll.
“Small business employment is showing continued strength,” said Susan Woodward, the economist who worked with Intuit to create the Index. “Employment is up, hours worked are up, and total compensation per employee is up. Moreover, employment is up across the country. While we have a long way to go to full employment, we have seen continued improvement now for a year-and-a-half.”
Based on this latest data, the employment growth rate for March was revised slightly up to 0.3 percent, equating to 65,000 jobs added for the month. Since the hiring trend began in October 2009, small businesses have created 845,000 jobs.
Hours Worked, Compensation Up
Small business hourly employees worked an average of 109.8 hours in April, making for a 25.3-hour work week. This is a 0.7 percent rise from the revised March figure of 109 hours.
“April registered the strongest increase in hours worked so far this year,” Woodward said. “This is a good sign. The U.S. has 8.4 million part-time employees who would be happy to work more hours.”
Average monthly pay for all small business employees was $2,653 per month in April. This is a 0.5 percent increase compared to the March revised estimate of $2,641 per month. This translates to wages of about $31,800 per year, which is part-time work for many small business employees.
“Compensation per employee rose in April, continuing a slight, upward trend that began about six months ago,” said Woodward. “This upward trend is partly due to hourly employees working more hours while their hourly wages remain flat. So despite this slight rise in compensation, the small business labor market is still soft and employers have room to hire without pushing wages up.”
New Tool to Compare Wages
In conjunction with the monthly Index, Intuit introduced PayTrends a free, online tool to help small business owners set competitive wages for their employees. By entering a job title and geographic location, employers can search PayTrends for the average hourly and annual wages for specific jobs by location.
Small Business Employment by Geography
The Intuit Index also breaks down employment by census divisions and states across the country.
“For the fourth month in a row, all nine U.S. divisions showed employment growth,” said Nora Denzel, senior vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Employee Management Solutions division. “We also saw job growth in every state in which we have more than 1,000 Intuit Online Payroll customers. We’ve seen job growth from coast to coast throughout 2011.”
| U.S. Census Division | Percent Change in Employment | ||
| East North Central | 0.2% | ||
| West North Central | 0.4% | ||
| Middle Atlantic | 0.2% | ||
| Mountain | 1.2% | ||
| New England | 0.3% | ||
| Pacific | 0.3% | ||
| South Atlantic | 0.3% | ||
| East South Central | 0.1% | ||
| West South Central | 0.3% |
|
Small Business Employment by U.S. Census Division grew again in every division. The data reflects employment from approximately 65,000 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 | |
| Arizona | 0.5% | |
| California | 0.3% | |
| Florida | 0.5% | |
| Georgia | 0.2% | |
| Illinois | 0.3% | |
| Maryland | 0.2% | |
| Massachusetts | 0.1% | |
| New Jersey | 0.4% | |
| New York | 0.3% | |
| North Carolina | 0.3% | |
| Texas | 0.2% | |
| Virginia | 0.3% | |
| Washington | 0.1% |
|
Small Business Employment by State is up for all 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 65,000 small business employers, each with fewer than 20 employees. These small businesses use Intuit Online Payroll from Intuit, the No. 1 payroll provider with more than 1 million customers. 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: www.intuitinc.com/payrollindex.
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 recomputing 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 are also due to revisions to the government employment data, which is used to calculate 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: www.intuitinc.com/payrollindex
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Intuit Small Business Blog: www.blog.intuit.com
About Intuit Inc.
Intuit Inc. is a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses; financial institutions, including banks and credit unions; consumers and accounting professionals. Its flagship products and services, including QuickBooks®, Quicken® and TurboTax®, simplify small business management and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and filing. ProSeries® and Lacerte® are Intuit's leading tax preparation offerings for professional accountants. Intuit Financial Services helps banks and credit unions grow by providing on-demand solutions and services that make it easier for consumers and businesses to manage their money.
Founded in 1983, Intuit had annual revenue of $3.5 billion in its fiscal year 2010. The company has approximately 7,700 employees with major offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, India and other locations. More information can be found at www.intuit.com.
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