---
title: "Report Finds Hiring Freezes and Layoffs Rising Among Small Businesses"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/3f7bac92-8744-4d87-be5b-b337f12bda8a
source: "Franchising.com"
original_url: https://www.franchising.com/articles/report_finds_hiring_freezes_and_layoffs_rising_among_small_businesses.html
author: "Kerry Pipes"
category: "Finance"
topics: ["Finance & M&A"]
published: 2022-09-13T09:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:07:37.308Z
image: https://imgs.franchising.com/art/articles/7041_plate.jpg
---

# Report Finds Hiring Freezes and Layoffs Rising Among Small Businesses

**TL;DR:** Hiring freezes and layoffs are increasing among small businesses, with 63% not hiring due to high payroll expenses and recessionary fears, according to Alignable's September Hiring Report. The report found that 10% of small businesses in the U.S. are cutting staff, up six percentage points from 4% in July.

*By Kerry Pipes, originally published in Franchising.com on 2022-09-13. [Read the original](https://www.franchising.com/articles/report_finds_hiring_freezes_and_layoffs_rising_among_small_businesses.html).*

## Story

Alignable’s September Hiring Report is out and the results show hiring freezes and layoffs among small businesses are increasing rapidly. According to the study, 63% of small businesses in the U.S.

aren’t hiring because they can’t afford to add workers. That’s an increase of 18 percentage points over July’s rate of 45%. Here other highlights: -49% of those who've stopped hiring were seeking workers to fill jobs earlier in 2022, but ended their recruiting based on high payroll expenses, recessionary fears, and reduced revenues.

-58% of small business employers are paying at least 50% more in labor costs than they did prior to Covid. -Layoffs are spiking, too. Now, 10% in the U.

S. are cutting staff, up six percentage points from 4% in July. -The top three states with small business hiring freezes are New York (75% aren’t hiring), Ohio (74%), and Pennsylvania (68%).

In all three of these states, 7% of small businesses are cutting staffers. -Small business layoff rates are highest in Florida (12%) and Illinois (11%). -Sectors most impacted by hiring freezes and layoffs include real estate (69%), auto industry (67%), healthcare (67%), retail (66%), and finance (61%).

-While many restaurateurs spent most of the past year severely understaffed, now 55% of them say they’re not hiring (up by 17%) and 9% are laying off workers. -Only 23% of small businesses have fully recovered from the impact of Covid - the worst recovery rate in over a year, down 2% from July, and down 20% from Dec. 2021.

The information in the report is based on a poll of 5,618 small business employers taken between Aug. 13 and Sept. 6.

## Entities

- Franchising.com (publication)
- General (sector)
- Florida (location)
- new york (location)
- Kerry Pipes (person)
- ohio (location)
- Pennsylvania (location)
- Illinois (location)
- labor costs (topic)
- Alignable (company)
- small businesses (topic)
- layoffs (topic)

---
Originally reported by Kerry Pipes, Franchising.com (https://www.franchising.com/articles/report_finds_hiring_freezes_and_layoffs_rising_among_small_businesses.html). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/3f7bac92-8744-4d87-be5b-b337f12bda8a).