California small businesses reduced their staffing by 1.1% through June and cut the average paycheck by 1.3%, according to SurePayroll, the online payroll service for many small firms nationwide.
Here’s SurePayroll’s Small Business Scorecard year to date trends for selected states (click on image for a larger view):
Source: SurePayroll
It’s easy to see why the West was down while the rest of the nation was up: Besides California, all the western states cut staffing.
Salaries, on the other hand, were being cut everywhere, according to SurePayroll President Michael Alter.
“The bad news for the unemployed is that salary declines appear to be accelerating,” he said. “Salaries declined 2.5% in the second quarter whereas they declined only 1.8% in the first quarter.”
However, Alter notes that small-business hiring is up nationally and so is business owner optimism. At the end of June, 79% said they are optimistic about the small-business economy, compared to 73% in May and 66% in April.
A separate report from the National Federation of Independent Business’s Chief Economist William Dunkelberg supports that trend.
“Seasonally adjusted, there was a decline in average employment per form of 0.8 workers reported over the last three months among small-business owners in June, a huge improvement from May,” he said. “Jo b creation is not happening yet, but job desgtruction is slowing, the prelude to the re-start of rising private employment in the coming months.”
(Click on image for a larger view):
Source: NFIB
Note the rebound in average employment in recent weeks. These are national trends. Given SurePayroll’s findings, it’s possible California’s job picture is bleaker.
Click here for more NFIB small-business economic trend information.
Alter at SurePayroll says small-business owners are not creating permanent jobs when they do need more workers.
At the end of June, 4.06% of employed individuals who are working as independent contractors, up from 4.0% at the end of May, he says.
“If you are struggling to find a new job, consider marketing yourself as an independent contractor,” he suggests. “With luck, our contractor job will turn into a full-time position as the economy recovers.”
Click here for more information from the SurePayroll Small Business Scorecard.
Other jobs stories…
- U.S. loses 467,000 more jobs in June
- 750 people show up for 60 Cox jobs
- Unemployment checks still going out
- One out of 6 U.S. workers ‘underemployed’
- O.C. ranks 5th in U.S. for job losses
- O.C. builder lays off 87 more people
- Bob’s Big Boy sees steady stream of job applicants
Credit Cards $44 Billion to the Finance Companies and $0.00 to the American Economy…….Finance Bonuses
The American economy is down and out. Many of the credit card companies are now kicking Americans while they are laid down upon the on the ground from being hit by the fist of Wall Street greed. The credit card companies have raised the interest rates up to those ”mobster” levels of the past that were once forbidden and against the law. There are no moral, ethical or business reasons for the increased interest rates on a continuous consistent monthly basis. This action violates every code of ethics that was ever printed; it is neither fair nor just to the customer. No American in his right mind would ever give a finance company permission (either verbally, with a handshake or with a signature) to increase his or her interest rates.
Where Americans would have spent monies on food, housing, prescriptions, medical, and other areas that would have helped the economy to grow and prosper and shared the monies, the credit card companies now thru duress, threats, and trickery have taken the same monies (thru high interest rates of 25 to 59%) (Allowed by the government) and want to use those same monies for bonus and/or salary increases (where the monies will not be able to help the economy as the bonus monies will just sit in a robber baron’s savings account). How many Americans will go hungry or without prescriptions and medicines because of this. (Note this also applies to increases applied to fuel prices: which end up in foreign lands?) Credit card companies have doubled and tripled the payments the customers are making on their credit cards; payments have increased tremendously, and yet the customers have not received increases in their monthly incomes. Some customers have even lost their jobs, their homes, their furniture and etc., because they were not able to make these increased payments. One credit card company increasing their monthly payment by $40.00 or $50.00 is enough to send a family over the line into poverty and loss.
Has anyone checked as to where the credit card companies are getting their present money for these increased salaries and bonuses? Does any government official really care? Previous WAMU customers, Citibank customers, Choice, Chase and Bank or America customers are now paying increased interest rates: from 29 to 59 % (as per the internet sites). These same interest monies would have been used to pay for mortgages or rent, prescriptions, medical, food, insurance, clothes, donations, charities, etc., and now the institutes of greed want to beat up and rob the American citizen.
Why can’t the government step in and solve this. Is it easier for the government to supply welfare to provide food and housing, or will the government just sit their and watch Americans starve in the homeless shelters underneath freeways?
Number Description
281,421,906.00 US Population
3.14 Average Family Size
89,624,810.83 Number Families
$500.00 Average Increased Credit Card per Year
$44,812,405,414.01 Monies being collected by the Finance Companies per Year
How much would $44,812,405,414.01 boost the American Economy? Because it sure will not help the economy in the hands of the finance companies (see the bailout package and what it did)! (Note this same study could be applied to the increases in gasoline prices.
Thanks,
Foxfire
My take on these statisctics is that they are phony cover ups for the companies own stupidity. I saw an almost identical article 3 months ago quoting a cut back at ADP services. I am among those people. I dropped ADP not BECAUSE of the economy. I dropped them becasue they were the WORST service I have ever used.
They cancelled and re-wrote contracts for commisions. They failed to pay the taxes that were pre-paid for under the contract. They would charge huge fees to deliver the checks. And were so miserable that after I cancelled them I had to call the State/County/Goverment tax offices to apologize to them. You know what they said? We accept your apology and realize that - and I quote - “ADP! Well that explains everything. I am really sorry for you. You will have to argue that out yourself.”
Imagine that. A company so bad that the TAX OFFICES totally understood. What does this all mean? It means when customers started cancelling they - and the paper - called it a cut back in services. NOPE! It was cancellations due to poor service. THAT has nothing to due with the economy. Imagine what the stock holders saw. And now they had an answer. WRONG answer. But it was the kind of answer they wanted.
So dropping these services have NOTHING to do with the economy. It shows how more and more businesses are now doing their own taxes and check writing either on their own premises - as I do, Or how they do it online with accountants or companies such as QuicBooks. Typical new wash of a non event.
Albert,
I’m not sure how your dissatisfaction with ADP relates to a survey done by SurePayroll or with the finding that small businesses are cutting jobs and pay.
Jan Norman