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While there appears to be a surge in the number of businesses and jobs coming to the state, those working in Georgia might be taking home less money than some of their counterparts in other parts of the country, according to recently released research data.

SurePayroll Inc., a national provider of Web-based payroll solutions for small businesses, looked at Georgia trends in a hiring and pay index analyzing small business activity.
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According to SurePayroll President Michael Alter, business size in the state is up from a baseline of 10,000 in January to 10,775 in September. Average business size in Georgia is up 7.8 percent for the year.

Alter reported that the actual average number of employees in Georgia at the end of September was 4.97 while average salaries are down 3.2 percent.

"Georgia follows the national trend in this respect. More people are getting jobs at small businesses, but the jobs are not paying as well as they used to pay," he said.

SurePayroll also calculated the percentage of contractors used by small businesses in Georgia. At the end of September, of the money paid to employees versus contractors, Georgia small businesses paid 10.85 percent to contractors, which has been trending up for the entire year

At the same time, the state's Department of Economic Development has announced 141 business location and expansion projects in the last 12 months - the highest total of any 12 month period in the department's history. From January to August, approximately 60,000 new jobs were created in Georgia.

Copyright © 2004. Gwinnett Business Journal.