U.S. Small Businesses Continue to Show Moderate Job Growth and Wage Inflation Continues to Moderate
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The February Paychex Small Business Employment Watch showed hourly earnings growth for
“While our index continues to show job growth in businesses with fewer than 50 workers, it has now remained below pre-pandemic levels for two months. For the first time since
“Wage growth for small business workers continues to moderate, most notably for weekly earnings in Leisure and Hospitality. The sector fell below three percent (2.58%) for the first time since January of 2021 and is down from a peak of 10.35%,” adds Gibson.
Jobs Index and Wage Data Highlights:
-
The national index for February (100.67) continued to show slow and steady growth, down just 0.26 percentage points since
July 2023 . -
National hourly earnings growth moderated to 3.42% year-over-year, continuing a measured deceleration that began in
May 2022 . -
The West (3.87%) led regional hourly earnings growth for the ninth month in a row, and job growth fell below 100 for the first time since
March 2021 . - The South reported the weakest hourly earnings growth (3.11%) among regions in February. It remained the strongest region for small business employment growth (101.35), a designation it has held for 17 of the last 18 months.
- Small business job gains in Leisure and Hospitality (100.24) continue to level off after pandemic surges, down 0.35 percentage points from last month and 5.09 percentage points from last year.
The complete Small Business Employment Watch results for
About the Paychex Small Business Employment Watch
The Paychex Small Business Employment Watch is released each month by
About
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