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Small Business Jobs Index Off Slightly Compared To Last Year

The latest monthly Paychex |HIS Small Business Jobs Index shows that the numbers have declined a bit compared to this time last year. But Paychex CEO Marty Mucci tells WXXI News, that  overall, the trend is still positive.

“We’re about a half a percent less than last August ... it’s still steady, positive job growth above our base year , but it’s down about a half a percent and I think you’d expect, as we go through a long recovery that it does start to normalize at some point.  It’s still positive job growth, but it’s a little less than it was.”

Mucci says overall, the numbers are positive, but there are some factors that may be causing small businesses to go slow on doing a lot of hiring right now.

“We’re still seeing job growth that’s consistent and steady.  I just think some of the regulations that are coming out now , overtime rules, minimum wage hikes, I do think that’s slowing down maybe the hiring and the small businesses are being a little bit more cautious.”

Mucci says the Central U.S.  including Wisconsin and Michigan saw some of the strongest growth in small business employment, while the northeast continued to lag behind.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.