Welcome Guest. | Log In| Register | Membership Benefits

SmallBizResource Blog


ANTenna Blog -- Business & E-Business

Massive Job Losses Don't Spare Small Businesses

Posted by Fredric Paul Thursday, Jul 2, 2009, 08:53 PM ET

The national unemployment figures are in, and they stink. Really, really stink. And small businesses aren't doing much better.

Overall, the numbers were far worse than expected. Some 467,000 jobs wer lost in June, about 100,000 more than expected. So far, the Great Recession has cost 6.5 million U.S. jobs, pushing the unemployment rate to 9.5 percent. If you count those who've given up looking or settled for part time work, the figure jumps to 16%.

Monthly job losses had been declining since peaking at 741,000 in January, but June reversed the trend. Even more worrying for job seekers, the median time it takes to find new employment hit 17.9 weeks, the longest on records dating to 1967. The numbers were so unexpectedly gloomy that the economic pundits didn't even try to find a positive spin.

A separate report from ADP indicates that small businesses aren't doing much better. Companies with fewer than 50 employees lost 177,000 workers in June, and averaged 185,000 monthly losses in April, May, and June. At least that's slightly better than the first quarter of 2009, when small businesses lost 260,000 jobs per month.

If you're a small business managing to hold on to your employees, congratulations! If you've had to lay off workers, you're not alone.

Follow Fredric Paul on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/TheFreditor
Follow bMighty.com on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/bMighty
Put a bMighty gadget on your iGoogle page
Get bMighty on your mobile device


Business & E-Business
Company Size: 1-49 | HR




This is a public forum. CMP Media and its affiliates are not responsible for and do not control what is posted herein. CMP Media makes no warranties or guarantees concerning any advice dispensed by its staff members or readers.

Community standards in this comment area do not permit hate language, excessive profanity, or other patently offensive language. Please be aware that all information posted to this comment area becomes the property of CMP Media LLC and may be edited and republished in print or electronic format as outlined in CMP Media's Terms of Service.

Important Note: This comment area is NOT intended for commercial messages or solicitations of business.


Latest InformationWeek SMB Features for Small Biz

Exclusive Research for Small Biz




Explore the Small Business Resource Blog

A QUICK UPDATE FOR OUR VISITORS
As some of you may know, we have been a thriving division of CMP Technology, which is owned by United Business Media (UBM). We have recently formed a powerful new business unit directly under UBM called TechWeb to serve the information and business needs of 10,000,000 business technology decision-makers like you that use our websites, attend our events, utilize our services and read our magazines. To learn more about TechWeb and how we can help drive your business, go to techweb.com/aboutus.