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New Methodology Provides Better Picture of Economy's Effect on Entrepreneurs
The October Employment Index indicates that small business employment
decreased by 0.05 percent, at an annualized decline of 0.6 percent,
equating to approximately 10,000 fewer jobs than in September. Based on
October's numbers and the latest national employment data from the
The Intuit Small Business Employment Index model has added four main inputs to the methodology and has been revised to align with the quarterly Business Employment Dynamics data from BLS. The new inputs include an expanded set of Intuit small business payroll customers and monthly BLS private payroll, construction payroll and self-employment data. The BLS total payroll data used in the previous model will continue to be a data input in the new model. Detailed information on the new index methodology can be found at index.intuit.com.
"The employment and revenue indexes have long been the only source of
near real-time employment and revenue data for the smallest of small
businesses," said
Small Business Employment Index
The October decrease in employment continues a mild decline that began
in May. From
"The absence of a strong rise in small business employment during the recovery reflects two forces," said Woodward. "First, while construction shows some recovery, residential construction activity remains far below where it was in 2006. Second, small business employment has been a declining share of private sector employment for at least 60 years. The decline tends to be abrupt in recessions and slower the rest of the time. The jobs lost are primarily non-manual routine work, such as word processing and checkout services in retail. These jobs are also lost in larger firms, but small businesses start with more of these jobs and thus lose more."
October's employment index is based on data from Intuit
Online Payroll and QuickBooks
Online Payroll, and covers the period from
Decrease in Hours Worked and Compensation
Small business hourly employees worked an average of 107.1 hours in October, a decrease of 0.7 percent, or about 42 minutes, from the revised figure of 107.8 hours in September, making for a 24.7-hour workweek.
Average monthly pay for small business employees dropped to
Small Business Employment by Geography
The Employment Index showed mixed growth in the U.S. census divisions,
with decreases in all regions except the Pacific, Mountain and West
South Central divisions, which saw growth, and the West North Central
region, which remained flat. A state-by-state breakdown showed the
largest employment increases in
| U.S. Census Division | Percent Change in Employment | |
| East North Central | - 0.03% | |
| West North Central | 0.0% | |
| Middle Atlantic | - 0.04% | |
| Mountain | + 0.04% | |
|
|
- 0.06% | |
| Pacific | + 0.01% | |
| South Atlantic | - 0.02% | |
| East South Central | - 0.02% | |
| West South Central | + 0.05% |
Small Business Employment by U.S. Census Division is mixed in most parts of the country. The data reflects employment from approximately 170,000 small business employers, a subset of small businesses that use Intuit Online Payroll and QuickBooks Online Payroll. The month-to-month changes are seasonally adjusted and informative about the overall economy.
| State | Change in Employment (%) | |
|
|
+0.08 | |
|
|
+0.13 | |
|
|
+0.02 | |
|
|
+0.05 | |
|
|
-0.08 | |
|
|
0 | |
|
|
+0.01 | |
|
|
+0.01 | |
|
|
+0.11 | |
|
|
+0.03 | |
|
|
-0.10 | |
|
|
+0.08 | |
|
|
-0.03 | |
|
|
-0.09 | |
|
|
+0.02 | |
|
|
+0.05 | |
|
|
-0.01 | |
|
|
-0.01 | |
|
|
-0.02 | |
|
|
-0.08 | |
|
|
-0.05 | |
|
|
+0.08 | |
|
|
-0.11 | |
|
|
+0.01 | |
|
|
-0.04 | |
|
|
-0.05 | |
|
|
+0.11 | |
|
|
+0.04 | |
|
|
-0.04 | |
|
|
-0.01 | |
|
|
0 |
Small Business Employment increased for most states in which Intuit Online Payroll and QuickBooks Online Payroll has more than 1,000 small business firms. The month-to-month changes are seasonally adjusted and informative about the overall economy.
Small Business Revenue Index
Small business revenue overall fell by 0.3 percent in September. Since
"The decline in small business revenue is consistent with the decline in
small business employment over roughly the same period," said Woodward.
"During the recession, small business revenue fell a dramatic 13
percent, but then recovered strongly. The rise in revenue from the
lowest point in the recession —
| September Change in | ||
| Sector | Revenue (%) | |
| All | -0.3 | |
| Construction | -0.8 | |
| Accommodation, food services, and drinking places | -0.5 | |
| Professional, scientific, and technical services | -0.5 | |
| Retail trade | -0.5 | |
| Health care and social assistance | -0.2 | |
| Other services | -0.1 | |
| Real estate and rental and leasing | -0.1 |
The Intuit Small Business Revenue Index is based on data from more than 100,000 small businesses, a subset of the total QuickBooks Online financial management user base.
By industry, the September Revenue Index indicates that construction saw
the biggest decline, at 0.8 percent, followed by retail, professional
services, and accommodation and food services, each declining by 0.5
percent. The real estate and health care industries saw the smallest
declines, at 0.1 and 0.2 percent respectively. The health care sector
has seen the biggest continual decline, falling 6.5 percent since
The index is based on data from QuickBooks
Online and covers the period from
About The Intuit Small Business Indexes
The Intuit Small Business Indexes provide unique, near real-time information each month on the activity of the smallest businesses in the U.S. in terms of revenue, hiring and compensation trends. The Employment Index is based on anonymized, aggregated data from 170,000 small business employers, a subset of users that use Intuit Online Payroll and QuickBooks Online Payroll. The Revenue Index is based on anonymized, aggregated data from approximately 100,000 small businesses, a subset of users that use Intuit's QuickBooks Online financial management offering and are matched in Dun & Bradstreet's small business industry classifications. Together, the indexes provide a more complete picture of the economic health of the nation's small businesses. More information on the Intuit Small Business Indexes is available at index.intuit.com.
About
Founded in 1983, Intuit had annual revenue of
Intuit and the Intuit logo, among others, are registered trademarks
and/or registered service marks of
650-944-3807
tammy_lam@intuit.com
or
415-844-6296
vpiccinini@accesspr.com
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