Survey Assesses Small Business Job Picture

A bi-annual survey suggests only one-in-10 small businesses in the state is planning to add full-time workers in the next few months. The PNC Survey for spring 2014 comes amid Friday's release of the national job numbers, which shows the unemployment rate is holding steady at 6.7 percent. Ball State University Economist Mike Hicks says the numbers indicate employment growth has been “agonizingly slow.” The PNC survey also suggests small and medium-sized business owners in Indiana have more upbeat expectations, compared to a similar report issued last fall.

You can view a synopsis of the report by clicking here

April 4, 2014

News Release

Ball State economist Michael Hicks says that while the U.S. economy added 192,000 jobs last month, employment growth has been agonizingly slow.

Despite additional jobs being created, the national unemployment rate remained at 6.7 percent in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning.

“Today's job growth numbers reflect a continued slow growth in labor markets,” says Hicks, director of Ball State's Center for Economic and Business Research. “While the economy added 192,000 jobs, part-time employment for economic reasons grew by 225,000 over the last month.

“Job losses in manufacturing portend a continued sluggishness,” he said. “At the same time, one of every six jobs was in temporary help services.”

Hicks also points out that upward revisions of employment numbers for earlier months paint a somewhat better picture of the economy as employers added a combined 37,000 more jobs in February and January than previously estimated.

Source: Ball State University.