Small business hiring continues to gain momentum

3/25/2011

One of the unfortunate realities of the economic recession was that with less business coming in, many companies no longer had a need to maintain their existing staff, which resulted in mass layoffs. Now that business is picking up, many of these companies are once again rehiring staff, according to a new report from Paychex, a firm that manages payroll for small organizations.

The number of checks written per Paychex' clients rose by 2.8 percent year-over-year in February, marking the biggest gain in two years. This means companies are cutting checks to more employees, indicating that many have begun hiring once again.

"The upward momentum is very impressive," Jim O'Sullivan, chief economist at MF Global in New York, told Bloomberg BusinessWeek. "Disproportionately, job growth comes from the small-business sector," which he said is "key to a self-sustaining expansion."

With small business lending practices slowly relaxing, entrepreneurs may want to consider taking out commercial loans so they can staff up if they are having trouble handling their workloads.