In case you’re waiting for small businesses to start hiring again, don’t hold your breath. The reason might surprise you. It did me.
A small business owner (89 employees) reports in the Wall St Journal today...WSJ PDF.
“Meet Sally…Sally is a terrific employee, and she happens to be the median person in terms of base pay among the 83 people at my little company in New Jersey, where we provide audio systems for use in educational, commercial and industrial settings. She’s been with us for over 15 years. She’s a high school graduate with some specialized training.
“She makes $59,000 a year—on paper. In reality, she makes only $44,000 a year because $15,000 is taken from her thanks to various deductions and taxes, all of which form the steep, sad slope between gross and net pay.
“Before that money hits her bank, it is reduced by the $2,376 she pays as her share of the medical and dental insurance that my company provides. And then the government takes its due. She pays $126 for state unemployment insurance, $149 for disability insurance and $856 for Medicare. That’s the small stuff.
“New Jersey takes $1,893 in income taxes. The federal government gets $3,661 for Social Security and another $6,250 for income tax withholding. The roughly $13,000 taken from her by various government entities means that some 22% of her gross pay goes to Washington or Trenton. She’s lucky she doesn’t live in New York City, where the toll would be even higher….”
More on this jaw-dropping perspective here (WSJ PDF).
He won’t be hiring new employees any time soon.
“I can be quite sure that every time I hire someone my obligations to the government go up. From where I sit, the government’s message is unmistakable: Creating a new job carries a punishing price.”
The good news: more folks may be turning to a business of their own. That could be a very good thing.
Everything runs in cycles.
At one time, most folks were self employed, with most of that being small farmers.
Then the Industrial Revolution came along, and many people moved off the farms and into the cities, getting a job in a factory.
Now we have come full circle. More and more, traditional jobs are becoming obsolete.
The trend now is more towards being self-employed again, especially a business with no employees, and likely one that is online.
That story helps put things into perspective and I bet the business owner could also tell a revealing story about their actual take home pay.
This is good news for those of us in network marketing! The pool of great people to join you in business is getting larger. Besides, working for yourself in any industry is the best way to take control of your life.
Hi,
Awesome post! I think it's a wonderful time to know how to show others how to earn a living from home.
All the best,
Alan
In this day and age it just makes good sense not to have all your eggs in one basket.
Great article! Thank you for posting that. This day and age is def. hard for small business owners, I wish our gov would show a little more support for the little guys. This is why my my wife and I run our own business.