The national jobs index moderated slightly in September (99.84) but has averaged 100.31 so far in 2024, representing modest employment growth, according to the Paychex Small Business Employment Watch for September.

Focused on U.S. small businesses with fewer than 50 employees and drawing from the payroll data of approximately 350,000 Paychex clients, the data showed hourly earnings growth for workers increased slightly to 3.01 percent in September, while the three-month annualized hourly earnings growth has remained below 3 percent for the past five months.

Weekly hours worked growth (-0.16 percent) remained negative year-over-year for the 18th consecutive month.

The national job index averaged 100.31 through the first three quarters of 2024. At 99.84 in September, the national jobs index remained just below 100 for the third consecutive month.

More than half of all states (29 of 50) reported an index of 100 or higher in September.

The Midwest (100.39) remained the top region for small business employment growth for the fourth consecutive month. Within the Midwest, Indiana (101.29) remained the top state for small business job growth for the third-straight month.

“Our monthly jobs and wage data offers a pulse on the small business labor market and often indicates broader labor market trends,” said John Gibson, Paychex president and CEO. “We’ve seen employment growth fluctuate less than a half a percentage point in the last three months amidst uncertain external forces such as the upcoming election and the potential for additional rate cuts.”

The West (3.54 percent) led all regions for hourly earnings growth for the 15th consecutive month and showed the largest negative change in job growth from the prior year.

The region also reported a jobs index level of 99.09 in September, the data showed, dropping 1.97 percentage points to rank last among regions.

Education and Health Services (100.95) continued as the top industry for small business job growth for the fourth consecutive month in September, despite reporting the largest one-month slowdown among sectors (0.92 percentage points).

“We are still seeing small business employers struggling to find qualified workers and compete against larger businesses for talent,” Gibson added.” True to our mission and legacy of helping businesses succeed, we recently introduced Paychex Recruiting Copilot to help these employers find top talent in seconds using natural language search and AI to produce a list of qualified individuals.”