Small business job growth throughout the United States was 99.91 in November, according to the Paychex Small Business Employment Watch job index.
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The index focuses on businesses with fewer than 50 workers. Values below 100 represent lost jobs and values above 100 represent new jobs. For the first 11 months of the year, the index has been 100.25, representing modest employment growth.
“Our national jobs data for November, which is based on real payrolls from 350,000 Paychex customers, indicates small business owners are retaining workers as employment growth holds steady and wage growth continues to trend in a more manageable direction,” John Gibson, Paychex president and CEO, said. “We continue to see modest job growth through the first 11 months of the year as small businesses remain resilient and generally optimistic heading into the new year.”
In November, weekly earnings growth was 2.84 percent, and hourly earnings growth was 2.97 percent.
The region with the most small business employment growth was the Midwest for the sixth consecutive month.
The top state was Texas, and the top metro area was Tampa. Tampa’s position on the index was attributed to work force changes following Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Tennessee had the highest hourly earnings growth, growing 3.98 percent.