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.