Survey: Time to hire is ripe, but few employers creating jobs

February 08. 2012 1:01PM

Survey: Time to hire is ripe, but few employers creating jobs

With the improving economic climate, the stage is set for small-business owners to hire new employees, but a large majority is cautious to do so, according to a Wells Fargo and Gallup quarterly survey that polled 600 small-business owners in various industries nationwide.

"Small-business owners' future expectations for hiring in the next 12 months are stronger and more optimistic than they've been in the last three years, and projections for firing have decreased," Wells Fargo small-business segment manager Doug Case said. "But if you look at the present, it's not so strong. Something is keeping business owners from pressing the hiring button."

According to the survey, conducted between Jan. 9 and 13, 85 percent of respondents indicated they were not looking to hire employees today, and more than half said they were worried about not having the revenue to justify new hires, make payroll and provide health care coverage. Half of respondents said they added new jobs in the past year, but that number is little changed from the 51 percent who reported doing so in November 2010.

"As a financial institution, we have the benefit of seeing small businesses' financial statements and spotting trends — and we're seeing that sales and profitability are increasing across the board," said Alan Wyosnick, Wells Fargo's New Jersey business banking manager. "But what we've seen is, if a small business's sales were up by 20 percent (since October 2011), it didn't increase hiring by 20 percent — it became 20 percent more efficient in its operations, instead. Businesses are spending in targeted areas that don't yet include hiring, but with the economic landscape changing, they are in the position to create new jobs."