GLENVILLE, Ill. – Small business hiring in the Northeast slipped in November from a month earlier, according to SurePayroll’s Small Business Scorecard.
The Northeast’s hiring index was 12,486 in November, dropping from 12,516 a month earlier. The scorecard’s indexes are proxies to gauge whether hiring has gone up or down and began in 2004 at 10,000. A year ago, the hiring index stood at 12,035.
Nevertheless, the Northeast pay index – which began at 1,000 – increased to 955 in November from 954 a month earlier. In November 2009, the pay index was 957. The scorecard’s pay index has fluctuated over the past 12 months, reaching a high of 962 in March and May and a low of 952 in December 2009.
The regional hiring trend reflected the nation’s economic difficulties. Hiring dipped nationally to 12,155 from 12,170 and paycheck size remained unchanged in November. All regions, except for the South, experienced hiring declines.
Business sentiment, however, showed a marked improvement, with 63 percent of small business owners indicating that they are optimistic about the economy versus October’s 57 percent.
“Based on that increase, I’d say more small business owners are getting used to the new economic norm, which includes getting a whole lot more done with a whole lot less resources,” said Michael Alter, SurePayroll president, on his Inc.com blog.
“While heightened productivity has at least kept the majority of [small business owners] in business during these tough times, it’s not great on a macro level,” he added, noting that “doing more with fewer employees means our unemployment rate won’t change significantly.”
The SurePayroll scorecard is generated from payroll data for nearly 30,000 small business nationwide.
For the year-to-date, SurePayroll said Northeast hiring has increased 3.0 percent as salaries added 0.3 percent. U.S. hiring was up 4.2 percent as the pay index grew 0.6 percent.
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