[December 03, 2014]

Small Business Employment, Pay and Hours Worked Grew in November

Intuit (News - Alert) Inc. (Nasdaq:INTU) today issued its monthly Small Business Employment and Revenue Indexes. Here are topline results from each of the reports:

Small Business Employment Index

• U.S. small businesses added 30,000 new jobs in November, an increase of 0.15 percent, making for more than 830,000 jobs added since March 2010.
• Small business employees saw a 0.3 percent increase in monthly compensation, with average monthly pay reaching $2,775, up $9 from October.
• Hourly employees worked an average of 109.5 hours in November, up 18 minutes, or 0.3 percent, from October's revised figure.

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 Oct. 24 - Nov. 23.

Small Business Revenue Index

• Revenues per small business decreased by 0.04 percent in October, roughly 4.4 percent when annualized.
• The construction industry once again showed the largest increase, growing 0.6 percent. Health care and social assistance revenue also increased by 0.17 percent.
• The professional, scientific and technical service category declined by 0.19 percent, followed by the real estate sector, which dropped 0.16 percent.

This index is based on data from QuickBooks Online, covering the period from Oct. 1-31.

A Closer Look at Results

• The Small Business Employment Index

Small business added 30,000 new people to its base of 20.5 million employees.

"Small businesses are not just hiring, they are also paying employees more and asking them to work longer hours. All of these figures are seasonally adjusted, so this is not influenced by just holiday activity," said Susan Woodward, the economist who works with Intuit to create the Small Business Employment and Revenue Indexes.

Hourly employees worked 20 minutes longer in November than they did in October, a sharp rise, and the fraction of hourly workers working full-time rose by 0.2 percent for the month. The hiring rate rose to 5.8 percent for the month, the highest since January 2009.

Compensation per employee, which includes business owers, rose $9 for the month, or 0.34 percent, to $33,305 per year.

"With inflation running at 1.7 percent, this gives people a real gain in compensation of 2.5 percent on an annualized basis. Hourly wages for hourly workers rose almost as much, by 0.3 percent for the month, to $16.22 per hour," she said.

Growth varied by geography. Utah posted the highest employment growth of 0.4 percent in November, after recording the third-highest increase in October. The five states posting November's highest growth - Utah, Virginia, Nevada, Oregon, and California - were all among the 10 biggest gainers last month. Similarly, Idaho, Michigan, Ohio, Massachusetts, Missouri and Alabama, saw declines in November after posting decreases in October as well.

• Small Business Revenue Index

In October, overall small business revenues declined slightly, by 0.04 percent, when seasonally adjusted. On an annualized basis, this is a loss of just under one-half percent.

Professional services saw the largest decline, and has shown the slowest growth over the past six months.

"This is a big change for professional services - from the fastest grower to a slow grower," said Woodward. "From the trough in small business revenues between May 2008 and October 2014, revenues to professional services business have grown 40 percent, the most for any industry group, followed next by construction, at 33 percent."

Over the past year, all industry groups have seen positive revenue growth, with construction the highest, at 6.3 percent, and health care the lowest, at 2.2 percent.

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 250,500 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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