New Jersey residents who plan on looking for new jobs in the near future may want to look to larger companies for potential employment. Although small companies make up 99.9 percent of businesses and provide half of the employment in the United States, the average small company's employment rose by only 0.1 worker in February. Although this number seems low, it actually marks a slight increase from the 0.09 worker average posted in January.
A survey conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business showed that out of 870 business owners surveyed, 78 percent did not hire any employees in February 2013. The main reason why small companies are not increasing their number of employees is because of the current economic climate. Rising healthcare costs and political tensions have been added to business owners' list of concerns.
The cautious nature of small business owners has led to very high levels of unemployment. Currently, employment is lower than it was in 2008, when the stock market crashed and unemployment began to rise. However, there have been signs of a rebound in the housing market, and it is predicted that this will help raise employment levels as well.
Small businesses and partnerships have every reason to be cautious about hiring. Hiring equals more spending, which can increase a company's debt or eat into already-slim profits. Many small business owners have worked extremely hard to save up capital to start their businesses. Most have also used loans and bank lines of credit in order to start up and maintain their businesses. Smaller businesses can also expect to pay higher interest rates than larger companies for the money they borrow.
Source: Richmond Times Dispatch, " Survey: Small business hiring edges up, still weak," March 11, 2013