Small businesses across the United States added 20,000 jobs in December, continuing an overall trend that started two years ago of more small business employers bringing in workers.
The total number of jobs added at small businesses since March 2010 stands at more than 555,000, according to numbers from the Intuit Small Business Employment and Revenue indexes.
The number of those employed rose even as average monthly compensation fell .05% in December, and the average number of hours worked in December dropped by .16%.
Still, the news is likely good for business students or those looking to get a degree. The increase in employment by small businesses as well as the overall improvement in employment is cause for optimism as the country moves into the new year.
The data in the report is based on numbers from Intuit Online Payroll and QuickBooks Online Payroll that were gathered between Nov. 24 and Dec. 23.
While the trend in small business employment has been rising, the number of new hires had remained flat through much of the second half of 2013. The recovery by small businesses from the lows of early 2010 has been slower than that of the overall economy, according to Susan Woodward, an economist who works with Intuit on analyzing the data.
Woodward pointed out that overall employment had improved by 7% since February 2010, while small businesses had improved only 2.8% over that same time frame.
The gains in small business employment were spread across much of the country, with 38 states showing increases. The largest increase came in Washington, while Oregon, Florida and Minnesota also showed strong gains.
The largest decline was in Michigan. Other states showing declines in small business employment were Connecticut, Idaho, New Jersey, Ohio and Wisconsin. Both Massachusetts and Hawaii remained unchanged.
Even as things improve, some are warning that small businesses need to keep track of legislative changes that could affect the bottom line. Paychex, which provides payroll services, recently identified a number of areas that small business owners need to monitor.
Those include the American Affordable Healthcare law, the expansion of the definition of marriage to include same sex couples, immigration reform and potential changes in IRS rules.
