Alignable’s December Hiring Report is out today, and the news is troubling. There are significant layoffs and hiring freezes among small businesses in North America.
Small businesses are the backbone of capitalism which is currently under fire.
The report is based on the sentiments of 6,908 randomly selected small business owners polled from 11/19/22 to 12/8/22, as well as 100,000+ historical responses from surveys over the past 2.5 years.
Nearly twice as many small business employers (15%) are laying off staffers in Dec. compared to Nov. when the figure was only 8%.
An average of 74% of small business employers have instituted hiring freezes until at least Q2 2023, up 12 percentage points from Nov. They’re saying they can’t afford to hire full-time, permanent staffers now given inflation, reduced revenues, high labor costs, and fears of a recession.
61% of all SMB owners say high inflation continues to have a very negative impact on their financial well-being.
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Only 14% report they’re fully recovered, earning the same or more monthly revenue generated before COVID, while their costs have skyrocketed. This recovery rate is down from 24% in October and 43% a year ago in Dec. 2021.
18% of construction firms (up 6%) and 17% of real estate companies (up 9%) are laying off workers, largely due to elevated interest rates & inflation
17% of transportation companies are letting staffers go, up 13% from Nov.
14% of retailers are laying off workers, up 13% from last month. 40% of retailers say they’re earning less in Q4 2022 than in Q4 2021.
11% of restaurateurs are reducing their staff (up 5%), while 56% are implementing hiring freezes (up 3%). At the same time, 44% still hiring report trouble finding the right workers.
However, there are two silver linings: only 4% of manufacturers and 1% of travel SMBs have layoffs. Both sectors are showing signs of recovery.
States with the highest number of SMBs implementing hiring freezes include IL (82%), MI (80%), CO (79%), NJ (77%), CA (76%), & TX (75%).
States with the highest percentage of SMB layoffs include CO (21%), MI (20%), TX (17%), CA (16%), NC (16%), OH (12%), and IL (11%). (Note: Layoff figures are included in state hiring freeze totals).
Canada has the same percentage of small businesses implementing hiring freezes (74%) and laying off staff (15%), as the U.S. does. (Ontario leads the provinces in small business layoffs with 16%, up 14% from November).
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