Survey: U.S. small business employment holds steady through first half of 2025

The small business labor market has remained stable with minimal changes observed through the first half of 2025, according to the Paychex Small Business Employment Watch.

The pace of job growth in U.S. businesses with fewer than 50 employees has fluctuated less than half a percentage point over the last six months, reporting a 99.65 index level for June.

At the same time, hourly earnings growth for small business workers continued to trend below three percent at 2.79%.

“Regardless of an uncertain and dynamic macroenvironment, the small business labor market remains stable and fundamentally healthy,” said John Gibson, Paychex president and CEO.

Gibson said Paychex is seeing many organizations take a more measured approach to strategic decision-making – including hiring – as business owners wait for greater clarity on macro issues, such as tariffs, inflation and taxes.

“This ‘wait and see’ approach is reflected in our small business jobs data through the first half of the year, which has shown modest month-to-month movement since January,” Gibson added.

Focused on businesses with fewer than 50 workers, the monthly report offers analysis of national employment and wage trends and examines regional, state, metro and industry sector activity.