Employment Picture "Bleak"

Ouch!

from the National Federation of Independent Business:
WASHINGTON, June 3, 2010 — William C. Dunkelberg, chief economist for the National Federation of Independent Business, the nation’s leading small business organization, issued the following statement on May job numbers based on NFIB’s monthly economic survey that will be released on Tuesday, June 8. The survey was conducted through May 31 and reflects 823 small business owner respondents:

“Since January 2008, the average employment per firm has been negative every month, including May 2010, which yielded a seasonally adjusted loss of negative 0.5 workers per firm. Most firms did not change employment in May, but for those that did, 8 percent increased average employment by 2.4 employees and 20 percent reduced their workforces by an average of 4 employees. Small business job creation has not crossed the 0 line in over 2 years. Government (including healthcare and education) and manufacturing (a large firm activity) are providing what few jobs are created.

“The number of owners with unfilled (hard to fill) openings fell two points to 9 percent of all firms, historically a weak showing.

“Over the next three months, 7 percent plan to reduce employment (unchanged), and 14 percent plan to create new jobs (unchanged), yielding a seasonally adjusted net 1 percent of owners planning to create new jobs, a gain of two points and the first positive reading in 19 months.

“Overall, the job creation picture is still bleak. Poor sales and uncertainty continue to hold back any commitments to growth, hiring or capital spending. Job creation plans have been running far below comparable quarters in the recovery from two other major recessions."