CBIZ Small Business Employment Index Rebounds in August

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The CBIZ Small Business Employment Index (SBEI), a barometer for hiring trends among companies with 300 or fewer employees, increased by 1.15 percent during August, following a decrease of 1.57 percent in July.

“Mirroring other employment reports released last Friday, the CBIZ Small Business Employment Index also shows a gain for the month of August. These data sets, taken together, provide some hope that employment is at least on solid ground and increasing moderately”

ADP’s August jobs survey uncovered that the private sector added 201,000 jobs, achieving its biggest gain in five months and surpassing July’s revised tally of 173,000 added jobs.

CBIZ Payroll Services manages payroll services for more than 3,000 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.

“Mirroring other employment reports released last Friday, the CBIZ Small Business Employment Index also shows a gain for the month of August. These data sets, taken together, provide some hope that employment is at least on solid ground and increasing moderately,” suggested 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 August data set include:

At-a-glance: Of the companies surveyed, 29 percent increased staffing while 20 percent of the companies decreased employee headcounts. 51 percent of the companies surveyed maintained their number of employees.
Small business sector: The nation's unemployment rate will continue to be a major issue moving into the fourth quarter. Additionally, as the oft-mentioned fiscal cliff approaches, more small business owners may be hesitant to hire new employees in anticipation of a reduction in business demand.
What-to-watch: As students return to college campuses and the summer travel season wanes, we should expect to see the SBEI turn negative for September before heading higher once more as we approach the holiday shopping season.

“In order to have a material impact on the broad number of unemployed Americans, job growth will need to continue to grow at a pace much faster than we have experienced over the past few months,” said Noftsinger.

The small business sector of the economy continues to attract headline coverage as the presidential campaign is now centered on job creation and our economy. The SBEI is focused on this portion of our economy and is a critical component to understanding domestic economic trends.

Editor’s notes:

(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.

(2) The United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation Summary is due to be released on Friday, September 7, at 8:30 a.m. ET. Mr. Noftsinger is available for media interviews to discuss employment trends and other payroll matters impacting the American business environment.

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.