CBIZ reported a further drop-off in small business hiring in September.
The September CBIZ Small Business Employment Index, which measures hiring trends among companies with 300 or fewer employees, further decreased by 0.81 percent through the month, after posting a decrease of 0.36 percent in August. It was the third month in a row that hiring in the small business sector trended slightly downward. The index is based on companies using CBIZ Payroll Services.
Of the companies surveyed by CBIZ, 26 percent reported a decrease in employee headcount while 26 percent increased their staffing level. Forty-eight percent of the companies involved in the survey maintained their number of employees.
“As we reported last month, consumer demand and the overall economic malaise that permeates most of what Americans are seeing and hearing are the primary contributing factors around the lack of employment growth,” said CBIZ Payroll Services business unit president Philip Noftsinger in a statement. “Until confidence rises among small business owners and consumers, results like September’s are likely to continue into the foreseeable future.”
