Rich Sloan's Amazon Blog

Small businesses power through tough economy, stats show

6:54 PM PDT, June 6, 2008

Today, ADP released their May Small Business Report, which showed small business employment - defined as businesses with fewer than 50 workers – added 61,000 jobs during May, up from a revised 43,000 increase in April.

See below for a break-down of the small business data by sector:

     Total small business employment: +61,000
     Goods-producing sector: -1,000 small business jobs
     Service-providing sector: +62,000 small business jobs

Unbelievable how resilient and important our sector of the economy is. We're literally holding up - better yet, counteracting - the rest of the economy. To understand this on a "relative" basis, see below:

Nonfarm Private Employment Highlights – May Report:

     Total employment:                                 +40,000
        Small businesses                               +61,000
        Medium businesse                              -3,000
        Large businesses                               -18,000

Goods-producing sector:                             -37,000
Service-providing sector:                             +77,000
Manufacturing industry:                              -26,000

Also notable, within the small business sector it was service-related jobs that provided the surge, with 62,000 new jobs. Why ony 61,000 new jobs indicated in the study results? Because the goods-producing sector within small businesses contracted by 1,000 jobs. So, it's not a "perfect" picture, but pretty darn close.

Kudos to you small business owners who are helping our economy along. YOU ARE THE ENGINE keeping us going.

Homage!

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Initial post: Jun 6, 2008 8:34 PM PDT

Emma Price says:

I own a small manufacturing business (104 employees). We have hired throughout the last year. And still are. Becuase customers keep giving us orders. Because we can respond to customers' special needs, quickly and economically. Big business can't. I have been wondering and wondering if I'm lving in an illusion as my business stays strong and the big guys lay off. Glad to know I'm not alone.