IES Blog

Turnover reaches steady low

Posted on March 15th, 2013 Read time: 1 minutes

With economic uncertainty prevailing through the first quarter of 2013, a new report from Bloomberg BNA revealed employee turnover was relatively low during the last few months of the previous year. 

Median monthly job separations, not including layoffs and terminations, was 0.7 percent of the workforce in quarter four 2012. While turnover was high during the first and second quarter last year, a drop during the summer months led the year-over-year rate to hit the same levels as 2011 and 2010, signifying the job market has achieved some stability since 2009.

A separate report by business and financial software provider Intuit that measured small business employment in February shows Bloomberg's findings for the end of 2012 carried over into the new year.

Last month, small business employment increase by 0.7 percent, which translates to 15,000 new jobs. Average monthly compensation grew only 0.4 percent and average monthly hours worked went up 0.17 percent, or 12 minutes. 

Intuit noted these organizations ended last year on a positive note, but have since confronted new challenges that could lead them to veer off course.

"Small business revenues recovered through early 2012, but have since begun to decline, with the health care and the accommodation and food services industries being the first to go," said Susan Woodward, an economist who created the index with Intuit.

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