Job creation

John Arensmeyer

If there’s one thing small business owners are always on the lookout for, it’s talent. Talented employees help them grow and thrive. But simply keeping their eyes peeled isn’t always good enough — often times they have to find creative ways to suss out the best and the brightest.

Small businesses are critical to our economy. In fact, they generate, on average, 6 in 10 net new jobs. Fortunately for our leading job creators, Congress took an important step at the beginning of the year to protect them and their core customer base by extending income tax cuts for the middle class, as part of the fiscal-cliff deal. But lawmakers now have another economic obstacle in their path: the sequester — a host of automatic spending cuts that began March 1 because lawmakers couldn’t agree on a deal to reduce the deficit. These across-the-board cuts could have dire consequences for the economy and small employers. But all is not lost. There are still some areas in the budget where Congress can quickly pick up revenue to avoid the bulk of the cuts.

John Arensmeyer

Our nation’s smallest businesses—those with 1-49 employees—continue to outpace large businesses in the race to put America back to work. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees created more than half of all new jobs last month, and, from April to May, they boosted the actual number of jobs they generated by 16 percent, according to data released Thursday by Automatic Data Processing, Inc (ADP). Small businesses overall accounted for more than 93 percent of all new jobs last month, while large businesses created just 6.8 percent of new jobs.

As 2012 progresses, the political heat in Washington is climbing faster than summertime temperatures, and small business is becoming increasingly central to policy debates in Congress. Entrepreneurs make up a core constituency in the United States. With National Small Business Week having recently ended, now is a better time than ever for legislators to reflect on these individuals’ needs and work to address them — one of which is tax relief. Luckily, Congress will have a chance to do just that when the Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act of 2012 comes up for a vote in June.

ADP released data Wednesday revealing our nation’s smallest businesses—those with 1-49 employees—continue to outperform large businesses in the job creation arena. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees created roughly half of all new jobs in April, while small businesses overall accounted for a sweeping 96.7 percent of all new jobs last month. Conversely, large businesses created a mere 3.3 percent of new jobs.

Small business owners believe they’re at a disadvantage when it comes to taxes and support a higher tax rate for individuals earning more than $1 million a year, according to national opinion polling. The Paying a Fair Share Act (also known as the Buffett Rule), introduced today and slated to be voted on in the Senate next week, is in line with the views of our primary job creators and is one piece of much-needed comprehensive tax reform.