If you need more proof that small businesses aren’t faring well among the current economy, here it is.
The ADP Small Business Report released today found that small businesses – those employing fewer than 50 people – lost 281,000 jobs during December 2008. This is the largest decline the report has seen since the onset of the ADP National Employment Report dataset in December 2000.
Among the nearly 300,000 jobs lost, 80,000 were in the goods-producing sector and 201,000 were in the services-providing sector.
“Though the severity of job losses in recent months among small-size businesses has been less than that at larger-size ones, today’s employment declines clearly indicate that the recession has widened to include businesses of all sizes,” Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, said.
Private sector employment overall decreased by 693,000 jobs during December. Aside from small businesses, medium businesses, which employ between 50 and 499 workers, lost 321,000 jobs and large businesses, which employ 500 or more workers, lost 91,000 jobs.
The goods-producing sector lost 220,000 jobs and the service-providing sector lost 473,000 jobs. The manufacturing industry itself lost 120,000 jobs while the construction industry lost 102,000 jobs, bringing the total number of construction jobs lost since January 2007 to 809,000.
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January 7th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
It’s clear that this will be a long riding recession (unfortunately). It will be interesting to see how many of the smaller job boards will survive in the next year.
January 8th, 2009 at 1:56 am
Two factors account for the small business layoffs. 1) Credit is hard to get, so companies financing their way though a rough sales patch have to lay off because they can’t make payroll, and 2) Quite a few small business owners look at an unfavorable business climate with 59 Democratic Senators, Obama, and eight years of pent up left wing government action.
With trillion dollar deficits projected into the future, owners are shutting doors, laying off employees, and riding the storm with reduced headcount and overhead.
This is not hyperbole. Ask the owners who layed off employees over a beer, and you’ll get the straight answer.