The Paychex Small Business Jobs Index slipped -0.16 pts to 99.65 in June, marking another month of modest cooling in small business employment growth. The index is down -0.64 pts over the last 12 months.

• The Midwest (100.15) led all regions for the 13th consecutive month, though all regions saw MoM declines; the West (98.89) was the weakest and fell below 99 for the first time since March 2021.
• Ohio (101.04) topped all states, while Washington (98.06) and California (98.66) were the only states below 99, with Washington posting the largest one-month drop in nearly four years (-2.27 pts).

• Education and Health Services (101.23) remained the top-performing sector for the 13th straight month despite the sharpest MoM decline (-0.48 pts).
• Leisure and Hospitality dropped further to 97.76, its lowest level since March 2021.
• Construction rose to 99.97, just under its 2025 YTD average, while Manufacturing gained +0.40 pts MoM to 98.80—the largest monthly increase among sectors.

Hourly earnings growth for US small business workers held steady at 2.79% YoY in June, remaining just below 3% for the 10th time in the past 11 months.

• Weekly earnings growth rose to 2.58% YoY, the fifth consecutive monthly increase, while weekly hours worked remained negative at -0.12% YoY.
• The Midwest led hourly earnings growth at 2.91%, with Tennessee (4.59%) topping all states for the 8th straight month.
• Tennessee also led in weekly earnings growth (4.79%) and was second in weekly hours worked growth (0.18%).
• Construction led sectors in hourly earnings growth at 3.27%, while Leisure and Hospitality remained lowest at 2.52% despite showing improvement.
• Manufacturing posted the strongest weekly earnings growth among sectors at 3.47% for the fourth straight month.