Superstorm Sandy dents US small business hiring in November
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In this Dec 4, 2012, photo, Mr Bob Manere, owner of the Seagrape Cafe, clears prepares a refrigerator to be restocked in his bar in hopes or reopening after Superstorm Sandy's floodwaters caused a quarter million dollars in damage in October in Fairfield, Connecticut. Small business employment in the United States slipped in November as Superstorm Sandy shut businesses along the East Coast, the National Federation of Independent Business said on Thursday. -- PHOTO: AP
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - Small business employment in the United States slipped in November as Superstorm Sandy shut businesses along the East Coast, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) said on Thursday.
The NFIB said the net change in employment per firm dipped to "minus 0.04" last month from a positive reading of 0.02 in October.
"Although large national firms will not experience much of an employment impact, thousands of small firms were shut down along the East Coast, and large numbers have not reopened", it said in a statement.
It said stripping out responses from states hit by the late October storm from the rest of the country, there was less hiring and more job loss in those states.
