Small-business employment grew by 0.12 percent in 2012, marking an increase of 0.09 percent in December with 24,000 added jobs, according to Intuit Inc.'s 2012 Small Business Employment and Revenue Report.
Despite the growth, small-business revenue fell by 1.2 percent from January to November and by 0.3 percent in November.
"Small-business employment is still growing, albeit very slowly," says Susan Woodward, the economist who partnered with Intuit to create the reports. "2012 was a year of ups and downs, resulting in a final tally of 19.9 million small-business jobs. However, the level of small-business employment has yet to reach its prerecession level of 21.2 million jobs in March 2007."
Recommended For You
According to the December Small Business Employment Index, there were 15,000 new jobs during the month, representing a growth rate of 0.09 percent. This totals to an annualized growth rate of 1.1 percent. Considering the seasonal adjustment, average monthly compensation increased by 0.5 percent for $13 while average monthly hours worked rose by 0.08 percent for five minutes.
The December report also shows that on average small-business hourly employees worked 107.4 hours during the month, a slight gain from the revised figure of 107.3 hours in November. This resulted in a 24.8-hour workweek.
Small-business employees also saw an increase in average monthly pay as it grew to $2,702 in December, up 0.5 percent from the November revised figure of $2,689 per month. This equates to annual wages of approximately $32,400 per year and is part-time work for many small-business employees.
Based on the November Small Business Revenue Index, revenue dropped 0.3 percent from the prior month. The professional services and retail industries experienced the largest declines at 0.6 and 0.5 percent, followed by health care with a drop of 0.4 percent.
"This is the ninth-consecutive month of revenue decline, but revenues are declining at a slower rate than they were earlier in the year," Woodward says. "The real estate industry is performing the strongest, increasing 4.4 percent from a year ago and seeing the smallest decline among all industries tracked this November."
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
