Having trouble finding new employers that need group health plans and other employee benefits? Maybe it's not you. Maybe the number of wage-paying businesses coming to life in your area is down. The latest monthly business statistics report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that the total number of "business applications with planned wages" fell to 603,096 in the first half of this year, down 6.7% from the total for the first half of 2023. At the state level, the rate of change ranged from a decrease of more than 17%, in Georgia and Mississippi, to an increase over of 20% in states. For the 10 states with the best performance, including one that had a small decrease in new wage-paying business starts, see the gallery above. (Note that we left the District of Columbia out of the gallery, because the district is more like a city than a state, and comparing it with a state seems awkward.) For a table with data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, see the table below. What it means: The market for completely new benefit plans may really be a little slow. The data: The Census Bureau generates data on the formation of wage-paying businesses by looking at the number of businesses that have applied for employer identification numbers and have given dates indicating when they will start paying wages. Related: Layoffs & questionable economy begin fueling wave of SMB ownership, entrepreneurship To analyze business formation statistics yourself, try starting with the Census Bureau's business formation statistics data visualization tools. County-level information is available here. Keep in mind that census reports are in the public domain. That means that you can use the numbers in your own reports, infographics, blog posts and other planning materials and publications without paying for the data or worrying about running into copyright problems.