The pandemic has hit small businesses hard around the country, but in Florida, there’s a silver lining.
The Miami metro area’s job index this month came in at 95.72, higher than the 95.66 seen last month. This places the area at No. 5 nationally among metro areas, ahead of Houston, Atlanta, New York and Seattle, according to The Small Business Jobs Index from Paychex and IHS Markit. The Tampa metro area came in at No. 2 on the list, with an index of 96.64, up from 96.48.
To put that in a national perspective, the report indicates that despite a decrease of .13% month-over-month, the national index’s 94.32 is a new low and is down 3.89% from last year. However, the South—covering Florida, Texas, West Virginia, Georgia and other states—is the nation’s top region, as its job growth pace has seen improvement for the second month in a row. Plus, Florida and Texas are the only states with indexes above 96 (96.78 and 96.13, respectively).
The report covers Sept. 18 to Oct. 22 and uses payroll data from businesses with 50 or fewer employees. For more insights from the report, view it here.
