Seattle Area Business Owners Braving Risk, and July Employment Data

     It's an interesting time. We saw an increase in protests in downtown Seattle (and in other areas of the country) pushing for a $15 minimum wage for fast food workers. Protesters pressuring other minimum wage workers to join them with chants of "You don't need the boss; the boss needs you!" For the record, I believe the employer-employee relationship is a symbiotic one. Tom Douglas gave some of his employees an increase of $15 per hour, but thinks the government should stay out of it (applause to Tom from me, for sure). 

     We sit on the eve of Oct. 1st, a kick-off compliance day of the Affordable Care Act, when employers are to notify employees of their coverage options under their respective state and/or federal SHOP exchanges and beyond - here in Washington, those coverage options haven't been rolled out, due to delays...so we wait.

For Small Business Employers considering hiring, it would be easy to hear only one thing - RISK

     BUT...this month I worked with an influx of start up companies, as well as a number of companies who decided to move from in-house to outsourcing of payroll compliance services. They wanted to capture back their time and hurdle risk; not ignore it, and not run from it. Each of these local owners, officers, and managers, from different industries, and with different backgrounds, has a positive-growth outlook for their economic future and made the decision to move forward in spite of the surrounding risk. They will be hiring.

     That's Entrepreneurship. That's Ownership.

Data Overview:

Small businesses with 1-19 employees had a net gain of 82,000 jobs nationally in July (ADP/NER)

Professional/Business Services Industry had a net gain of 49,000 jobs nationally (ADP/NER)

US Franchise Jobs growth slowed to just over 12,000 in July (ADP/NFR)

WA State had a gain of over 6,000 jobs (ADP/RER)

WA State Preliminary Unemployment Rate dropped to 7.4% in July (BLS)

WA State private sector has added an estimated 74,000 jobs in the last year: July 2012-July2013 (BLS)