BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Small business hiring is on the rise in Alabama, and more so than most of the other states, according to a new study by Intuit.

Intuit’s Small Business Employment Index provides monthly information on revenue, hiring and compensation trends of small businesses. Intuit uses the SBEI to measure the growth of employment in small businesses with fewer than 20 employees.

Alabama’s growth in small business employment in August was already building on its increase from July. In fact, Alabama’s small business hiring has increased each month in 2015.

Susan Woodward, the financial economist who works with Intuit to produce the SBEI, said that Alabama’s small business hiring grew by 0.3 percent monthly, which would result in a 3.7 percent increase annually.

However, the U.S. as a whole is not showing the same advancement that Alabama is. Overall, small business employment fell by 5,000 jobs across the country in August.

Idaho, Nevada and Minnesota join Alabama in the top growing states for small business hiring in the August index, with these states being the biggest gainers last month as well. These states’ growth of small business hiring is notable, but it is because their growth rates remain above than the national average.

“Much faster than national small business employment over the past year (which was 0.8 percent for the year), and faster than national employment overall – for big business and small, just over 2 percent for the past year,” Woodward said. “Alabama small business employment growth has been in the top five nationally for at least 3 months in a row.”

(H/T BBJ)

https://twitter.com/caseycappa/status/634418932192030720