The CBIZ
Small Business Employment Index (SBEI), a barometer for hiring
trends for more than 3,500 companies with 300 or fewer employees,
decreased by 2.37 percent during January, following an increase of 0.39
percent in December.
Despite the unemployment rate ticking up from 7.8 to 7.9 percent, ADP’s
January jobs survey revealed that the private sector added 192,000 jobs,
significantly surpassing analysts’ estimates of 165,000 jobs and beating
December’s revised tally of 185,000 added jobs.
“This month’s SBEI prints with a decline of 2.37 percent, which is the
lowest seasonal reduction in workforce in the past two years of January
reports,” says Philip Noftsinger, business unit president for CBIZ
Payroll Services.
To view and/or use a graphic illustration that tracks and illustrates
the employment index, visit
our blog here.¹
Additional take-away points from the January data set include:
-
At-a-glance: Of the companies surveyed, 21 percent increased
staffing while 31 percent of the companies decreased employee
headcounts and 48 percent of the companies surveyed maintained their
number of employees.
-
Small business sector: The fact that this month’s number is the
smallest seasonal decline in the past two years is encouraging and
hopefully a sign that the small business labor market is improving.
-
What to watch: Despite the uncertainty surrounding the debt
ceiling last month, the economy seemed quite resilient. It will be
interesting to see if the hiring pace will continue to gradually pick
up and sustain growth this winter and for the long-term.
“The CBIZ SBEI is not adjusted for seasonality, allowing the user to
compare historical results year over year to interpret the raw data to
extrapolate what’s occurring in the small business labor market,” says
Noftsinger.
CBIZ Payroll Services manages payroll services for more than 3,500
businesses. Its index reflects a broad array of industries and
geographies corresponding to the markets across the United States where
CBIZ provides human capital services. The data represented by the SBEI
is derived from a segment of employers not completely accounted for by
the ADP and Federal BLS employment reports.
Editor’s note:
(1) The SBEI illustration is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at http://blog.cbiz.com.
About CBIZ,
Inc. (NYSE:CBZ)
CBIZ, Inc. provides professional business services that help clients
better manage their finances and employees. CBIZ provides its clients
with financial services including accounting, tax and consulting,
internal audit, merger and acquisition advisory and valuation services.
Employee services include employee benefits consulting, property and
casualty insurance, retirement plan consulting, payroll, life insurance,
HR consulting, and executive recruitment. CBIZ also provides outsourced
technology staffing and support services, healthcare consulting, and
medical practice management. As one of the largest benefits specialists
and one of the largest accounting, valuation, and medical practice
management companies in the United States, the Company’s services are
provided through more than 130 Company offices in 37 states. Visit our
website at www.cbiz.com
and our blog, “Human Capitalizing,” at http://blog.cbiz.com.
