City of Phoenix issued the following announcement on Dec. 29
Increased hiring in healthcare and technology sectors placed Greater Phoenix fourth in the nation in metro area job performance, according to the December Small Business Index from Paychex and IHS Markit. The metro area saw its workforce numbers land just 3.8 percent less than December 2019.
By Eric Jay Toll for PHXNewsroom
Statewide, small business Arizona indices were less than the metro area, but strong enough to place fifth in the nation. Both the state and Greater Phoenix outperformed the nation’s small business economy for December, a remarkable showing considering the strong numbers in December 2019.
For small businesses, Greater Phoenix placed in the middle of the top 20 metro areas when it came to increasing wages. Weekly paychecks increased 2.47 percent over December 2019 to $925.27. The leading metro area is Riverside, California, with a 6.83 percent increase over last year, but an average weekly wage of $860.43. Washington D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles all posted smaller wage hikes than Greater Phoenix, but have average weekly small business paychecks over $1,100, the highest in the U.S.
What this means for Greater Phoenix is that the worst effects of the pandemic economy may be in the past for small businesses. No one can accurately project when "normal" will return to small businesses but the current trend in the Phoenix area has companies scrabbling towards equaling last year's hiring and wage numbers.
Arizona also fell into the middle of the 20 largest states with small businesses boosting pay an average 2.76 percent to $881.86 per week. The state’s gains were less than the Western region and national averages.
Most important, both Greater Phoenix and Arizona have been showing steady increases in small business hiring and wages since the initial economic impact of the pandemic conditions in April 2020. Although neither market has hit the 100 index, meaning that the small business economy is showing positive growth, neither have fallen more than five percent below last year’s monthly and year-over-year indices.
Paychex publishes the monthly Small Business Employment Watch drawing data from its client base and additional information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Economic Analysis. All data are compiled by IHS Markitt.
Original source can be found here.
Source: City of Phoenix
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