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Small business revenues fell 0.6% in August compared to July, their fifth decline in as many months. Susan Woodward, an economist with Intuit, describes the revenue numbers as “alarming.”
“After showing some recovery from about mid-2009 until early 2012, all sectors were looking pretty good. But for the last few months, revenues for all of our big sectors are headed down, and I do not know why.”
The retail and accommodation and food service sectors saw the steepest fall in revenues at just over 1%.
Meanwhile, small business hiring eked out gains of less than 0.2% in August. Texas did slightly better, with hiring in the state up 0.3%. Woodward cautioned, though, that Intuit is recalibrating its employment models and that the company is likely to revise the August hiring numbers downward.
