Small businesses have continued to hire more employees in March, extending a trend that began in mid-2009, according to a new payroll report by Intuit.
The companys Small Business Employment Index showed that employment for small businesses grew slightly more in March than in February. March employment grew by 0.25 percent, which when projected over the entire year equates to a 3 percent annual growth rate. This translates to approximately 50,000 new jobs in March and a slightly revised estimate of roughly 175,000 new jobs since June 2009.
Intuits recently launched monthly index includes aggregate and anonymous employment data from approximately 50,000 small businesses with fewer than 20 employees. These small firms use Intuit Payroll.
Intuit also measures average compensation for all employees and hours worked per month for hourly employees. Both of these numbers remained flat in March, at $2,562 per month for all employees and 103.1 hours worked by hourly employees. This translates to wages of about $31,000 per year for all employees and a nearly 24-hour work week for hourly employees.
Small businesses are hiring, but with the excess supply of workers, they dont have to pay more to lure people away from other jobs, because so many do not have a job, said economist Susan Woodward.
