Arizona led the nation for small business employment growth for the month of July, according to new data from Paychex and IHS Markit.
Nationally, job growth was up across all industries, but Arizona outpaced the nation for small business employment growth.
Year over year, Arizona’s small business employment grew 5.98%, outpacing the nation, which experienced a 5.04% increase in the 12-month period. Nationally, a jump in employment in July mirrored the growth in the overall economy and was the second-strongest one-month increase since recovering from the Great Recession in 2010, according to the study.
The study compares job growth from 350,000 Paychex clients with 50 or fewer employees to what it was in 2004, which is the baseline. The index baseline of 100 was the average rate of growth that year. According to the study, Arizona outpaced its growth that year, with an index of 101.72. Arizona just slightly edged out Texas, which had an index of 101.64.
Phoenix was also among the top metros for job growth, with an index of 101.57, ranking third in the country. Tampa and Dallas fared better, with 102.53 and 102.39, respectively.
According to the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity, Arizona added 151,900 non-farm jobs in the 12-month period that ended in June 2021, but for the month of June lost 8,800 jobs. Arizona’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 6.8% in June, up from 6.7% in May.
Arizona ranked eighth in the nation for small business hourly wage growth over the 12-month period that ended in July, according to the study. The state’s average hourly wage for small businesses grew 3.3% to $27.38. However, that hourly wage was still among the lower average state wages for the nation’s 20 most populous states. Out of the 20 most populous states, Arizona’s average hourly wage ranked 14th.
