This is an unusual market, and sometimes it can feel like you’re banging your head against a wall when doing BD. How can it be that so many companies seem to be laying off or freezing hiring, yet unemployment is under 4% and inflation is still on the rise? Where are the companies who are hiring?

Thankfully, that wasn’t a theoretical question, but one we can answer with real data. The US government tracks unemployment and releases a monthly jobs report. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the government has a terrific system for gathering this information, but I’m more inclined to trust ADP and their numbers specific to new jobs being added (in the form of actual new employees on payroll). These numbers aren’t going to be comprehensive, but they certainly show an interesting trend right now.

Get ready for some math. The private sector added 324K new jobs in July. Of the 324K, 237K of those jobs were in companies with fewer than 50 employees. That’s 73% of all private sector hiring in the US in July. That’s a giant percentage. Another 138K jobs were added at private sector companies with between 50 and 499 employees. That’s 42% of new jobs. But wait. Math is hard, but I’m certain 73 + 43 doesn’t equal 100.  Here’s why: “Big Firms” eliminated 67K jobs. Companies with more than 500 employees didn’t grow last month. In the Private Sector in the United States, most of all growth was in companies with under 50 employees, followed by companies with less than 500 employees.

Only 20% of small businesses employ any people, but those which do employ nearly half of all Americans. We should all consider modifying our business development and increasing the number of smaller businesses we’re targeting.