CBIZ found a decline in small business employment in September among its payroll clients, following an increase in August.
The CBIZ Small Business Employment Index, a barometer for hiring trends among companies with 300 or fewer employees, decreased by 2.55 percent during September, following an increase of 1.15 percent in August. This marks the third largest statistical decline for the index.
In contrast, ADP's September jobs survey, based on ADP’s payroll clients, found that the private sector added 162,000 jobs, surpassing analysts' expectations, but falling short of August's revised tally of 189,000 added jobs (see
Intuit reported that small businesses with less than 20 employees added 40,000 jobs in September, based on Intuit Online Payroll clients (see
"The CBIZ Small Business Employment Index shows a dramatic drop in employment in businesses with less than 300 employees for September,” said CBIZ Payroll Services business unit president Philip Noftsinger in a statement. “Part of the reason is the traditional end of summer and the start of the back-to-school season; however, this drop registers higher than previous September shifts we've tracked.”
CBIZ Payroll Services manages payroll services for more than 3,000 businesses. Its index reflects a broad array of industries and geographies corresponding to the markets across the United States where CBIZ provides human capital services. CBIZ said the data represented by the SBEI is derived from a segment of employers not completely accounted for by the ADP and federal BLS employment reports.