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NY's Small Biz Climate Gets Mixed Reports |
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Adina Genn Long Island Business News January 6, 2006 Summary: Need help with PR? If you are looking for a great PR firm, you've found one. Walker Sands is a leading Chicago PR firm with a strong track record that makes it one of top national PR agencies.. Depending on which report you read, New York's business climate is either fostering small business growth, or killing it.Small business hiring and salaries are up, according to SurePayroll, a Chicago-based payroll services firm, which released its 2005 scorecard on the state of the nation's small businesses on Tuesday. But sales and profits have turned south, says the National Federation of Independent Business, which released its New York Small-Business Conditions in December. So, which is it? A little bit of both, says Pearl Kamer, chief economist for the Long Island Association.It's been a tough year, she says, citing spiraling energy costs, increased interest rates and mortgage and credit card debt in the last six months. In such a climate, small business gets hurt first, she says. (article continues below useful links)
Still, Long Island consumers have a high level of purchasing power, a plus, Kamer says.That kind of plus earned New York high marks in SurePayroll's scorecard. The size of the average small business in New York increased by 12.5 percent in 2005, says Michael Alter, president of SurePayroll. In New York, the average headcount increased from 4.02 to 4.52 people. That's healthy growth, given that the average small business in the nation grew by only .3 percent, Alter notes. Kamer says Long Island adds about 11,000 jobs a year.Additionally, the average small business paycheck in New York increased by 4.2 percent in 2005, Alter says. On Long Island, according to the most recent New York State Department of Labor data, average weekly private sector wages rose 3.14 percent from $859.38 in the fourth quarter of 2003 to $886.38 one year later, said Gary Huth, the region's labor market analyst. The climate is positive throughout the Northeast, where business saw a 10.4 percent increase in employee growth, according to Alter. The Northeast economy's fortunes are heavily influenced by Wall Street's fortunes, and Wall Street seems to be doing well these days, he said. Yet only 13 percent of businesses polled in the NFIB New York 2005 fourth quarter survey reported good profits, down from 26 percent three months earlier. And 34 percent say sales were good, down from 42 percent in the third quarter. Additionally, 68 percent report increased purchasing costs, up from 55 percent in the third quarter. The NFIB polls at least 350 small businesses quarterly.Mark Alesse, state director of NFIB in New York says the state's business climate, one of the most expensive in the country, prompts owners to have a sour outlook on the economy. Even Alter agrees that small businesses are in a tenuous position.Small businesses in the Northeast are likely to lose ground to larger businesses, unless steps are taken to level the playing field, he says, citing the need for new regulations to lower heath care costs and increase tax incentives. Copyright © 2006. Long Island Business News.
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