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Not-Terrible News on the Job Front

David N. Feldman bizbox.slate.com

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June 18, 2009

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Well, it's hard to call 491,000 lost private-sector jobs this April "good news," but ADP's new employment figures are a lot more merciful than the 645,000 many economists were predicting (indeed, March's numbers were also revised downward). Of the nearly 500,000 cut positions, only 77,000 came from big corporations (500 or more employees). Small businesses (under 50 employees) lost 183,000 positions, with mid-size companies cutting 231,000. (Now you see why we talk about small and medium-sized businesses being the main engine of job growth!)

CNNMoney runs a nice article accompanying the new data, which points out that jobs at small businesses tend to be particularly vulnerable to recessions because payroll tends to be by far the biggest expense of any small business with employees.

Anyway the real good news may be less the actual less-harsh numbers and more what many are saying is their cause: increased consumer spending. If the American people are once again determined and able to buy stuff, then that is about all the good news that small businesses could hope for at this point. So yay!

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