Small Business Offers Only Employment Bright Spot

Small businesses actually added 20,000 jobs in August, even as larger companies shed more than 50,000 jobs.The economy as a whole registered a seasonaly adjusted loss of some 33,000 jobs, according to the ADP National Employment Report. The decline in August continues the recent trend in employment that is consistent with an economy that is growing slowly but has not fallen into recession," according to a statement from Joel Prakken, Chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC.

For companies with fewer than 50 employees, the figures looked like this:

 Total small business employment: +20,000  Goods-producing sector: -16,000 small business jobs  Service-providing sector: +36,000 small business jobs

August small business job growth is still down from July's adjusted increase of 46,000, but "these figures continue to offer evidence of the resiliency small-size businesses have demonstrated over the past several years when compared to the job losses experienced at larger firms, said Prakken.

From an industry point of view, Prakken said, This months employment loss was driven by the goods-producing sector which declined 78,000 during August, its twenty-first consecutive monthly decline. The manufacturing sector marked its twenty-fourth consecutive monthly decline, losing 56,000 jobs... construction employment dropped 25,000. This was its twenty-first consecutive monthly decline, and brings the total decline in construction jobs since the peak in August of 2006 to 377,000. Employment in financial activities declined 2,000 during the month."