Small business wages are growing faster than their medium and large-sized business counterparts, according to quarterly data released by PayScale.
In the third quarter wages grew by 1.5 percent for small companies compared to 1.1 percent for large companies.
According to Katie Bardaro, PayScale’s lead economist, this is most likely a sign of change in the economy since small companies tend to show trends faster. “Small companies don’t have a corporate HR structure that people have to go through for hiring, so they’re a lot faster moving. So if they’re having wage increases that’s an encouraging sign that they’ll hopefully spread out to the larger and medium sized companies as well,” Bardaro said.
This strong quarterly growth pushed small companies to the top for annual wage growth (3.7 percent vs. 2.4 percent for medium companies and 2.9 percent for large companies).
However, even with this strong performance, wage growth since 2006 for small companies still lags behind large companies, but it is catching up with medium companies.
National (US) Year-Over-Year Percentage Change in Pay by Quarter