Dallas topped Paychex’s ranking of the 20 metro areas with the fastest small business job growth in June.
Dallas — Editor’s note | This article was originally published in Featured in the Dallas Business Journal
The Dallas-Fort Worth area ranked first among the 20 largest U.S. metropolitan areas for small business job growth last month, according to a new study.
Dallas-Fort Worth scored the best in the nation on the Small Business Employment Index released July 2 by Paychex Inc., an Irving-based payroll and human resources software company.
DFW’s index score of 102.62 indicates that employment is strong. The index is scaled to 100, which indicates no year-over-year growth. The reading a year ago was 101.51, indicating job growth will accelerate in 2024.
According to the report, the industries that led small business employment growth in DFW were financial activities and professional and business services, while leisure and hospitality experienced significant declines.
Paychex (Nasdaq: PAYX) uses payroll data from 350,000 companies with fewer than 50 employees for the index. The company said it expects to work with about 740,000 companies in 2023 and pay 12 million employees.
Texas ranked fourth among states in June for small business job growth, with a score of 101.24.
Nationwide, Paychex reported that small business employment increased slightly last month, but growth was slowing. The impact was most pronounced in California, while Houston ranked 16th on the list with an index score of 99.41, indicating a decline in employment.
“While job growth is growing across the country, small businesses in some regions and industries continue to face challenging operating conditions due to complex regulations, a tight labor market and inflationary pressures,” said John Gibson, president and CEO of Paychex.