Paychex is out with its latest index on how small businesses around the country are doing, and in general it shows slow, steady progress. That according to Paychex CEO Martin Mucci, who says the index for April shows a half-percent increase in the 12 months leading up to April, and it reached a new peak level, reflecting improving employment conditions.
“It’s a constant kind of slow, steady growth, in the rate of hiring for small businesses under 50, so we’re pretty pleased that it continues to show that trend.”
The state of Washington had the strongest growth in employment over the last year, among the top 20 most populous states. New York was ranked 12th among that top 20 list. Mucci says the general increase in employment among small business is related to an improvement in the housing sector.
The new monthly index, produced by Paychex and the research firm IHS, is based on data from about 350,000 small businesses. Officials with the companies note that small businesses make up nearly 95 percent of U.S. employers, so they say this index is a good measure of the health of the economy.
