St Louis Job Openings Created by Small Businesses

Small businesses will account for many St Louis job openings during the near future.

A recent report from the Entrepreneurs' Organization St. Louis Chapter found that more than half of the small businesses in the area plan to add jobs during the first three months of this year.

About 46 companies were surveyed for the report. Of those, 57 percent said they expect to add employees by march, while 82 percent plan to hire skilled workers and 4 percent plan to hire administrative personnel.

"Despite the recent downturn in the economy, it's very encouraging to see how many local entrepreneurs are feeling optimistic enough about their businesses to hire new employees," Dan Curran, communications chairman for the Entrepreneurs Organization St. Louis Chapter, said.

As for how these small businesses plan to recruit new workers, 44 percent said they will post available jobs online; 25 percent plan to find new hires through networking; 11 percent plan to use a recruiter; and only 5 percent said they would place an ad in a newspaper.

The Entrepreneurs' Organization is a world-wide network of 7,300 businesses that each employ 50 or fewer workers. The St. Louis Chapter currently has about 100 members.

The new jobs those businesses will create is welcome news for the local economy. As of late, the city's unemployment rate has continued to increase and more jobs have been lost on a monthly and yearly basis.

During November 2009, the unemployment rate in St. Louis increased from 9.7 percent to 9.9 percent, following a decrease from 9.9 percent during October. That increase places the city's rate just below the national unemployment rate of 10 percent.

St. Louis had a total non-farm employment of 1,320,400 workers during December 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 1,322,100 workers during November and a 2.5 percent decrease from December 2008.