MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The nation’s unemployment rate may have hit a 26-year high in September but many small business owners are getting ready to hire.

The latest Intuit Payroll survey from Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq:INTU) finds that nearly half of the small business owners surveyed, 44 percent, are planning to hire new employees within the next 12 months. At the same time, many small business owners believe that benefits are key to attracting new hires but are finding them difficult to afford.

“Economists may have declared the recession over, but on Main Street, unemployment figures are what really matter,” said Nora Denzel, senior vice president of Intuit’s Employee Management Solutions Division, which helps more than 1 million small businesses easily and affordably manage their payroll. “There are struggles ahead, nobody is uncorking the champagne bottle quite yet, but we are starting to see small signs of optimism.”

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Tags: economy, jobs, careers, small businesses

Categories: The Economy

The course, Recovery Act Opportunities: How to Win Federal Contracts, is part of a federal government-wide initiative announced last month by President Barack Obama and is led by SBA and the Department of Commerce.

The free, self-paced, instructional guide gives an overview of the federal procurement process.

"The SBA online training course can help businesses access the federal purchasing system and position themselves to compete for the commercial opportunities offered by government contracting," SBA Administrator Karen G. Mills said in a statement.

Chris Olson is consultant at the Frederick County Small Business Development Center and president of the Frederick County Entrepreneur Council.

"The SBA's website is a very rich resource, with lots of great tutorials and other reference and instruction materials for business owners, especially on the topics of financial management and government contracting," Olson said. "We always recommend it in our business start-up seminars."

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Tags: government grants, small businesses, public sector

Categories: News

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--More than 58 percent of small business owners expect an economic turnaround in 2010, while 14 percent anticipate a rebound by the end of 2009 and 14 percent think the recovery will be in 2011 or later, according to the most recent Business Confidence Survey released today by Administaff (NYSE:ASF), a leading provider of human resource services for small and medium-sized businesses.

The economy was listed by 83 percent of business owners as their biggest concern for 2009, followed by 53 percent citing government healthcare reform, 44 percent listing controlling operating costs and 33 percent specifying rising healthcare costs. However, for 2010 and later, concern about the overall state of the economy fell to fourth place, at 36 percent, when the largest number of survey participants expressed a 55 percent tie vote for being “very concerned” about both potential tax increases and the effect of government expansion on business, and 50 percent listed the Federal deficit.

When respondents were asked about their pipeline for new business for the balance of 2009, 41 percent responded that they expect a sales increase, 35 percent predict it will stay the same, while only 15 percent anticipate decreasing sales and 9 percent weighed in as unsure.

In addition, 60 percent of owners and managers of small and medium-sized businesses said that they are either meeting or exceeding their 2009 performance plans, with the remaining 40 percent reporting that they are doing worse than expected.

“Throughout America’s history, the entrepreneurial spirit has overcome obstacles and capitalized on opportunities, and our current economic setting is no exception,” said Paul J. Sarvadi, Administaff's chairman and chief executive officer. “Small and medium-sized businesses are battling through the challenges of the recession and appear to be preparing for a recovery in 2010.”

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Tags: economy, recession, economic recovery, small businesses, business news, surveys

Categories: The Economy

An article from Fort Myers' News-Press provides some sources and links for small businesses who want to gear up their staffs during the recession recovery. Read it here.

Tags: economy, recession, workplace, small businesses

Categories: The Economy

SAN LEANDRO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As the U.S. recession deepens and monthly job losses reach historic highs, a recent survey of more than 400 white-collar small businesses is shining a light on how small employers are evolving their human capital management practices in a down economy, and how employer practices are directly influenced by whether the small business owner is considered an “economic optimist” or an “economic pessimist.”

Conducted by TriNet, a leading provider of human resources outsourcing and consulting services to small businesses, the TriNet Recession Practices Survey polled businesses in the technology, financial and professional services fields. The survey found that nearly half of the respondents fall in the category of being “economic optimists” and saw market conditions as least as good as in 2008. Of the economic pessimists, 34 percent viewed the economy as worse and 18 percent viewed it as much worse than 2008.

When it comes to hiring and talent acquisition practices for white-collar small businesses, the survey found that hiring plans are still on the table, but are being scaled back overall, with more than half of respondents saying they will hire fewer employees in 2009. Just as consumer confidence influences the performance of the market, employer confidence influences their business’s response to it. Specifically, 28 percent of economic optimists are planning to hire more employees in 2009 than the previous year and only 4 percent of economic pessimists are planning to hire more in 2009.

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Tags: economy, economic crisis, small businesses

Categories: The Economy