U.S. Small Businesses See Employment Gain

   MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - (BUSINESS WIRE) - 10/2/2014 - Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq:INTU) issued its monthly Small Business Employment and Revenue Indexes on Oct. 1. Here are topline results from each of the reports:
   Small businesses added 10,000 new jobs in September, making for more than 715,000 jobs added since March 2010.     Hourly small business employees saw a 0.1 percent decrease in monthly compensation, with average monthly pay reaching equivalent of $2,753, down $3 from August.
    Hourly employees worked an average of 108.3 hours in September, down approximately 24 minutes or 0.4 percent from August’s revised figure.
   Findings come from the monthly Intuit Small Business Employment and Revenue Indexes and are based on data from Intuit Online Payroll and QuickBooks Online Payroll, covering the period from Aug. 24 – Sept 23.
   Revenues per small business grew by 0.3 percent in August, roughly 3.1 percent when annualized. Real estate revenues have grown steadily over the past five months, reflecting an increase in home sales. This index is based on data from QuickBooks Online, covering the period from Aug. 1 – 31.
    “Small business coped with additional demand in August by having its existing work force work more. In September, small businesses hired additional people and paid them more, but asked them to work less. In sum, this makes for two months of mild gains in the small business labor market,” said Susan Woodward, the economist who works with Intuit to create the Small Business Employment and Revenue Indexes. “Small business added 10,000 jobs this month after a flat previous month. We are continuing to see signs of a warming labor market. “Despite last month’s flat employment for small business, there are other signs of further employment recovery. Hours worked were up sharply in August, but down in September; compensation was up in August due to more hours being worked, while the hourly wage remained flat. That gain was only partially lost this month, and the percent of workers working full-time was sharply up last month and reversed this month. In both months the hiring rate was up.”   Geographically, all states tracked individually by the Intuit saw hours worked decline, with the exception of Nebraska. The northern prairie states, around the Great Lakes, and those in New England saw employment declines, with Michigan and Idaho seeing the biggest declines. Utah had the biggest gain.
   The real estate rental and leasing industry saw the biggest rise in revenue among the industries tracked, posting a 0.7 percent increase. The accommodation industry posted the only decrease in revenue per business, with a decline of 0.02 percent for the month.
    “The two industries that had the biggest expansion in revenues per business recently are the two that experienced the biggest hit during the recession: real estate services and construction,” Woodward said. “Real estate services revenues rose 0.7 percent in August; this is an annual rate of 8.2 percent. These figures are seasonally adjusted, so this is not just late-summer home buying.”