January Small Business Hiring Grows at Highest Rate in the Last Decade

The CBIZ Small Business Employment Index (“SBEI”) showed companies hit the ground running with hiring in 2020, documenting a seasonally adjusted growth rate of 1.61% in January. This is the highest January reading since the metric’s inception in June 2009. The CBIZ SBEI tracks payroll and hiring trends for over 3,500 companies that have 300 or fewer employees, providing broad insight into small business trends. While January generally sees small businesses scale down their employee ranks with the end of the holiday shopping season, this year’s numbers told another story. “This month’s data was a pleasant surprise and suggested the overall strength of the sector heading into 2020,” says Philip Noftsinger, Executive Vice President, CBIZ, Inc. “Not only did small businesses hang on to seasonal employees, but they brought on additional resources. There are a number of tailwinds supporting this, with overall economic strength, the bipartisan trade agreement and a milder-than-normal winter benefiting small businesses.”