Small business hourly wages are rising faster in Dallas than anywhere else. Photo by Alexander London on Unsplash.
Dallas It leads the U.S. cities in small business employment growth and employee hourly wage growth, according to a recent study.
Hourly earnings growth for U.S. small business employees slowed in September, according to the latest Paychex. The IHS Markit Small Business Employment Watch study found that the Dallas metropolitan area outperformed the rest of the city, with a median wage of $31.38, up 7.44% month-over-month. This gave Dallas his seventh straight month of leading the nation in growth.
This doesn’t mean they’re earning as much as, say, employees in Seattle ($36) or San Francisco ($39), but they’re getting raises faster than anywhere else. (Plus, our cost of living is more affordable than those places, which we’ll get to in a moment). Our small business hourly workers are earning slightly more than the national average as of September.
Top performing industries for workers, according to the study, include leisure and hospitality, trade transportation and utilities, construction, manufacturing, professional and business services, financial activities, and education and health services.
Paychex chairman and CEO Martin Mucci points out that workers across the country are working longer hours. “Amid persistently low unemployment, small businesses are giving their current employees more and working more hours,” he said.
Dallas ranks 19th in hours recorded in September.
Paychex Small Business Employment Watch
“The slowdown in hourly wage growth is particularly noteworthy as it could indicate that the Fed’s actions may be having an impact on its fight against inflation,” Mucci added.
As we mentioned in this month’s cover story on affordable housing, Dallas residents’ incomes are driving more developers in return for providing affordable units to people below 80% of the median income in the area. will be of particular interest as they will receive tax breaks. The median income for the Dallas area is $68,200. Her family of four in the Dallas metropolitan area has a median income of $97,400.
For one person, 80% of AMI is $54,560 per year. $77,920 for a family of four.
For methodology and full report, please see the study here. Check out this article to learn more about affordable housing initiatives.