The latest Paychex | IHS Markit Small Business Employment Watch shows a moderation in small business hiring from the previous month, declining 0.13 percent nationally to 94.32. Hourly earnings growth stood at 2.88 percent in October, while weekly hours worked remained positive, up 0.38 percent from last year.
The report also includes regional, state, metro, and industry level analysis, showing:

• The South remains the top-ranked region for small business hiring and has improved its pace of job growth for the second month in a row.
• Ranking last among regions, job growth in the West slowed 0.26 percent in October and 0.99 percent during the past quarter.
• The Northeast has ranked first among regions in weekly hours worked growth for the past six months.
• With index levels above 96, Florida and Texas are the top two states for small business employment growth.
• New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania lead hourly earnings growth among states.
• At 3.89 percent, hourly earnings growth is strong in Construction and the sector leads in employment growth as well.
• At 88.22 in October and down 0.48 percent from the previous month, Leisure and Hospitality’s employment growth is well below all other sectors.

The complete results for October, including interactive charts detailing all data at a national, regional, state, metro, and industry level, are available at www.paychex.com/employment-watch. Highlights are available below.
Note: Data presented for the month of October was collected from Friday, September 18 through Thursday, October 22, the cutoff date for the Small Business Employment Watch.