Weekly Hours Worked Up Among Small Businesses

While the Paychex  IHS Markit Small Business Employment Watch for August shows a continued decrease in the rates of small business jobs and wage growth, it also reveals that weekly hours worked are on the rise. Down 0.12 percent in August to 99.22, the Small Business Jobs Index has fallen for three consecutive months and is 0.73 percent lower than a year ago. The rate of hourly earnings growth in August stands at 2.21 percent. Despite the hiring slowdown, the number of weekly hours worked has been increasing for the past 21 months (up 0.52 percent YOY), helping weekly earnings growth (up 2.74 percent YOY)."Small businesses continue to reduce hiring in this tight workforce competition. At 99.22, August marked the sixth decline of 2018, bringing the Small Business Jobs Index to its lowest level since 2010," said James Diffley, chief regional economist at IHS Markit."As the rate of job growth continues to slow at small businesses, existing employees are making up for the lack of new hires by working more hours each week, helping to bolster weekly earnings growth," said Martin Mucci, Paychex president and CEO.