Concerning SMB jobs data

Some critical small business data from ADP.    While the US private sector created nearly 250,000 new jobs last month, employers with fewer than 50 workers actually shed jobs.

Couple that with two other pieces of data.   According to Small Business Administration data, small businesses account for over 40% of U.S. economic activity.

And, According to the latest NFIB’s Small Business survey, owners turned more pessimistic in March and cited inflation as “the single most important problem” they face. 

Thanks to Axios for this one.  

My own bias skews SMB, and note that a lot of my listener base focuses here.    This data point colors some of the other ones I’ve reported on recently and layers another level of complexity for owners.      Hiring is not only tricky, then there is retention… and now concern customers may be shrinking.  

I’m slightly less concerned about the IT providers themselves than I am about the impact based on the customer base.   If all of your customers shed just one job, that’s a pretty sizeable haircut if you bill by the user OR by the device. 

So take heed.