CED News Release: Phoenix Second In U.S. Small Company Job Growth

Press release from Phoenix Community and Economic Development:

April 6 2021

Paychex: Phoenix Small Business Hiring and Wages Show Pandemic Rebound in March
Note: The City of Phoenix is closed on March 31 celebrating the Cesar Chavez holiday. For interviews or answers to questions, please call or text 602-617-3797. Email response will be delayed.

Summary

Phoenix small companies posted hiring gains in compared to a month ago in the March 2021 Paychex IHS Markit Small Business Watch. Phoenix ranked second in month-over-month small company hiring. Phoenix was in the middle of the pack for wage gains in year-over-year comparisons in March 2021 over 2020, but the gains were higher than the national average. Greater Phoenix also landed in the top five for average hours worked per week, up from 2020 and from February 2021. This datum shows that workers are returning to more hours per week.

Key Story Facts

• In March 2021, the Phoenix metro ranked second behind Dallas, Texas, in hiring gains, up 0.61 percent. The number is low, that in the pandemic, any positive number is a good sign.
• Phoenix is the fifth most-populous U.S. city and Greater Phoenix, the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metro area is the 10th most-populous market
• Phoenix metro ranked 10th in wage gains moving up to an average of $940 weekly earnings, a nearly 4 percent increase over March 2020, but still below the national average wage
• Hours worked climbed nearly 1 percent, with the metro ranking fifth in the nation.

Images

1) Small Company Hiring Metro March 2021

Link: https://action.phoenix.gov/c1.pl?66df7e8c4b0c5e2c133f1d9e4a6b4008297244b9001c8b10ab4ed0204b551ad1

While the monthly index for Greater Phoenix ranked third, the actual month-over-month hiring gains placed the metro area third among major markets

2) Small Company Hiring Trends April 2005-March 2021

Link: https://action.phoenix.gov/c1.pl?7f6defa53230b15bec914c42572de57a60df3065f5ca9b2cdcd5d6a91cfe8a0b

Nationally, the job losses during the pandemic (blue line) were greater than job losses during the first months of the Great Recession, beginning in September, 2008.

3) Small Company Earnings Paid Metro March 2021

Link: https://action.phoenix.gov/c1.pl?9d923959f38567fa15156829b3de85bd84b5ffaf67a90e93dce4798cea6f1763

The Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metro area ranked 10th among major metros in weekly wage gains.

The Full Story

Small company hiring in Phoenix moved into positive territory with March gains over February 2021, according to the Paychex IHS Markit Small Business Watch for the third month of 2021. New jobs posted a 0.61 percent gain in month-over-month dating, placing Greater Phoenix second behind Dallas, Texas.

Job gains in Phoenix, paired with a nearly 4 percent year-over-year increase in weekly wages, show ongoing economic recovery signs. The average earnings in the Valley grew to $940 per week, placing the metro area tenth among large markets. Riverside, California, topped the list with an 8 percent earnings jump. Boston was second with nearly 6 percent, followed by almost 5 percent hikes in New York and San Francisco.

In addition to increases in the number of hires, people are working more hours per week. Greater Phoenix landed in the top five metro area rankings for weekly workhours in March 2021, up 0.94 percent over last March. Tempered by the mid-March 2020 pandemic start, the year-ago figure reflects the beginning of the state-ordered lock-down.

Paychex, a national payroll and human resources support company for small businesses, has its western regional headquarters in Phoenix. The Small Business Employment Watch is its monthly publication assessing economic change among the company’s hundreds of small business clients around the U.S.

The gains in March are a continuing show of economic recovery in Greater Phoenix. The March 2021 small business employment numbers come on the heels of last week’s Arizona Employment Report, which also shows overall Phoenix area hiring continuing month-over-month growth. The Paychex small company year-over-year data show the small business workforce is 3.3 percent less in March than the same month last year. The Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity’s most current metro area workforce numbers report the Phoenix metro February workforce at 3.6 percent less than the previous year for all companies.

Despite a solid March 2021 earnings gain in the Phoenix metro, the average small company pays its workers $28.08 per hour, about a dollar-an-hour less than the national average. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Arizona shares the nation’s lead for year-over-year 2020 personal income growth with an 8.4 percent increase. According to Paychex, wages and earnings, one component of personal income, are rising more slowly among small companies.

This press release was produced by Phoenix Community and Economic Development. The views expressed here are the author’s own.