The latest employment news among small businesses is a mixed bag of good and bad indicators. Payroll firm ADP and SME lender Biz2Credit find that hiring in August is up from July, particularly for the health, retail and technology sectors. Other good news is that SME loan approval rates among institutional lenders are higher as a result of low default rates, higher yields and rising interest rates overseas.
The bad news is that job creation figures for August are below the monthly average, and manufacturing is cutting jobs. Also, lending volume to SMEs has decreased among traditional banks and alternative lenders. Global uncertainty and the presidential elections are believed to be dampening employment among SMEs.
Here are the numbers:
194,000 | The total number of jobs added for July, revised from 179,000 by ADP
84,000 | The number of jobs added by SMEs monthly, on average, for the first half of 2016
4,000 | The number of jobs cut by the manufacturing industry
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40% | The number of jobs provided by the smallest SME companies, 60% of jobs were provided by businesses with between 20 and 49 employees
20% | The rate at which SME loan approvals dropped in July
