Intuit February Small Business Index Reveals
Continued Revenue Decline
Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq:INTU) today issued its
monthly Small Business Employment and Revenue Indexes. Below are
topline results from each of the reports.
Small Business Employment Index
• U.S. small businesses added 15,000 new jobs in March, making
for more than 895,000 jobs added since March 2010.
• Hourly employees worked an average of 107.4 hours in March,
down 23 minutes from February’s revised figure.
• Small business employees’ monthly pay fell by 0.16 percent,
with average compensation reaching $2,760, down $4.30 from
February.
These findings come from the monthly Intuit QuickBooks Small
Business Employment Index and are based on data from Intuit Online
Payroll and QuickBooks Online Payroll, covering the period from
Feb. 24 – March 23.
Small Business Revenue Index
• Revenues per small business across all industries fell by 0.14
percent in February, which translates to a decline of 1.7 percent
when annualized.
• The Professional Services category showed the largest monthly
increase in revenue, at 0.2 percent.
• The Real Estate category continued to post the largest revenue
decline, falling 0.5 percent in February and 6.3 percent on an
annualized basis.
This index is based on data from QuickBooks Online, covering the
period from Feb. 1 - 28.
A Closer Look at Results
• The Small Business Employment Index
Small business employment rose by 15,000 jobs in March, while
the hiring rate fell slightly.
“This is a modest increase in the employment level for small
business – just 1 percent above a year ago and far below the 2.5
percent increase for the overall economy,” said Susan Woodward, the
economist who works with Intuit to produce the Small Business
Employment and Revenue Indexes.
“Businesses with fewer than 20 employees employ 20.6 million
people, up by nearly 900,000 jobs since the trough in the
recession, but still below the peak of 21.2 million in March 2007.
Total private payrolls and total payrolls, which include both
private and governments, have passed their previous peaks.”
Wages for hourly employees rose by two cents in March, an
increase of 0.1 percent, and are 2.6 percent higher than a year
ago. Meanwhile, inflation has been zero since March 2014. “This
change represents real wage gains over the past year,” Woodward
said.
At the same time, hours worked by hourly employees fell by 23
minutes, to 107.5 hours. The fraction of hourly workers who worked
full time fell 0.3 percent to 29 percent. Total compensation fell
by $4.30 for the month, to $2,760. Employment rose in nearly all
states separately reported by Intuit in March. Exceptions were all
east of the Mississippi River, with Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kentucky,
and Alabama seeing the biggest declines. Hours worked fell in all
states except Oregon, Idaho, and Iowa. Total compensation also fell
in most states.
“We see some softness in small business employment – fewer
hourly people working full time, a decline in hours worked, and a
decline in the hiring rate, despite a rise in the hourly wage and
overall, a rise in employment,” Woodward said. “While the figures
are adjusted for the seasons, they are not adjusted for unusual
weather, so some of the softness may be the result of an unusually
cold and snowy winter in the East and Midwest.”
• Small Business Revenue Index
Revenues for small businesses continued to fall in February but
at a slower rate of decline than in January. Revenue is reported
one month behind employment.
Real Estate Services saw the largest decline, followed by
Retail, and Accommodation, which includes restaurants and bars.
“The falling revenue we have seen over the last few months is
the first such episode since revenues began expanding again in
August 2008,” said Woodward. “This appears to be weather related.
The revenue figures, like the employment figures, are adjusted for
seasonality but not for especially bad weather. Real Estate
Services and Retail may have been especially influenced by the bad
weather this winter. Across businesses of all size, retail sales
were down, especially for large durables, such as cars and
furniture, but not for groceries and online purchases. In past bad
winters, retail sales made up for lost sales once the weather
improves.”
Not all industries saw revenue fall. The fastest revenue growth
was among companies in the Professional Services sector, whose
revenue grew 0.2 percent, or 2.2 percent annualized.
About the Intuit Small Business Indexes
The Intuit Small Business Indexes provide unique, near real-time
information each month on the activity of the smallest businesses
in the U.S. in terms of revenue, hiring and compensation
trends.
The Employment Index is based on anonymized, non-identifiable
aggregated data from approximately 263,400 small business
employers, a subset of users that use Intuit Online Payroll and
QuickBooks Online Payroll. The Revenue Index is based on
anonymized, non-identifiable aggregated data from approximately
150,000 small businesses, a subset of users that use Intuit’s
QuickBooks Online financial management offering and are matched in
Dun & Bradstreet’s small business industry classifications.
Together, the indexes provide a more complete picture of the
economic health of the nation’s small businesses. More information
on the Intuit Small Business Indexes is available at
index.intuit.com.
About Intuit Inc.
Intuit Inc. creates business and financial management solutions
that simplify the business of life for small businesses, consumers
and accounting professionals.
Its flagship products and services include QuickBooks®, Quicken®
and TurboTax®, which make it easier to manage small businesses and
payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and
filing. Mint.com provides a fresh, easy and intelligent way for
people to manage their money, while Demandforce® offers marketing
and communication tools for small businesses. ProSeries® and
Lacerte® are Intuit's leading tax preparation offerings for
professional accountants.
Founded in 1983, Intuit had revenue of $4.5 billion in its
fiscal year 2014. The company has approximately 8,000 employees
with major offices in the United States, Canada, the United
Kingdom, India and other locations. More information can be found
at www.intuit.com.
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Intuit Inc.Stephen Sharpe,
650-224-2362Stephen_Sharpe@Intuit.comorAccess CommunicationsBitsy
Rich, 917-522-3516brich@accesspr.com
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