Florida Among Leaders in Small Business Job Growth for January

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - Small businesses created 50,000 new jobs in January but paid employees less and gave them fewer hours according to Intuit. Florida tied Texas and California for 2nd nationally with a 0.4% growth rate. Arizona and Washington topped the list at 0.7% growth. The East Coast, especially New York, showed more weakness in employment than in other parts of the country.

These are among the results of this month’s update of the Intuit Small Business Employment Index, covering the period between Dec. 24, 2011 and Jan. 23, 2012. The monthly report found that small business employment grew by 0.2 percent in January, equating to an annual growth rate of 2.9 percent. Average monthly hours worked decreased slightly by 0.05 percent, or six minutes, while average monthly compensation also decreased slightly by 0.1 percent, or $3.

“Overall the small business labor market is not weak, but not strong either,” said Susan Woodward, the economist who worked with Intuit to create the Index. “Small business employment continues to rise but at a rate that will not get us back to full employment very quickly. Overall, non-salaried employees saw their hours and compensation decrease slightly, but so did the price level. When adjusted for inflation, compensation is about flat. The percentage of non-salaried people working full time is also down slightly, a trend that began in March 2011.”

Based on January’s numbers and revised national employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Intuit revised upward the previously reported December growth rate to 0.3 percent. This equates to 60,000 jobs added in December, up from a previously reported 55,000 jobs.