The 0.33 percent means about 66,000 new small business jobs created in April 2010. This is a continuation of 300,000 new jobs since June 2009 – touted as the start of positive trend in employment.
Also interesting, the Index shows a growth in compensation by 0.5 percent in April 2010 ($2,607 per month in April 2010, compared to $2,595 per month in March 2010.) Moreover, monthly hours worked went up by 0.5 percent in April (105.7 hours, compared to March’s 105.1 hours.)
What the stats signify?
Here’s the quote from Dr. Susan Woodward, the founder of Sand Hill Econometrics in Palo Alto who worked with Intuit Inc. to create the Intuit Small Business Employment Index:
Because discrete small businesses are more agile in their hiring practices, they are often an early indicator of a job market that’s turning around. Indeed, the April results of the Intuit Small Business Employment Index would seem to indicate just that.
A motivating quote, indeed.
Well, maybe not much, but an upward trend in employment almost always mean a better economy outlook. Even if the economy is not seemingly to better, the positive employment trend, to the least, signify that small businesses are becoming more and more resilient. In the midst of tax regulation changes not only in the US, but also worldwide, small businesses thrive.
The increasing compensation as a logical impact of the raising work hours for hourly-paid employees could be the result of more opportunities small businesses have access to – a great thing for both small business owners and employees.
To learn more, you can download the Intuit Small Business Employment Index.
Ivan Widjaya
Thriving
Image by flaivoloka.