Contractors Gaining Popularity Over Full-Timers: Small Business Scorecard August 2013

Our friends at SurePayroll, a leading provider of online payroll services for small businesses, have released their August 2013 Small Business Scorecard, a comprehensive summary of nationwide trends in small business hiring and salaries.

The results show hiring down among Small Businesses in most regions, both month over month and year over year, but individual salaries are up almost everywhere - especially in the Mid-West, where small business employees have gained as much as 3% higher salaries this year. This boost in income has most small business owners feeling good about the future of their company - 72% of small business owners report feeling optimistic, down slightly from last year's 75%, but still high.

In addition, SurePayroll also found that 22% of small business owners are more likely to hire independent contractors than full-time employees. Of that 22%, 51% said that it was easier to hire a temporary employee than develop a full-time role. 36% said that they would prefer to hire a contractor to reduce tax and benefits costs, and 23% said they need to stay below a 50 full-time employee count in response to the Affordable Care Act.

Do you tend to hire more contractors than full-time employees? Are you optimistic about the future of your business? Let us know in the comments below!

To download SurePayroll's handy summary infographic, visit their blog.