Small Companies Cut Millions Of Jobs In ‘09

Payroll-processing firm Automatic Data Processing (ADP) reports that small businesses shed another 25,000 jobs in December, making it the 23rd consecutive month of cuts, CNN Money reports. The silver lining in their report is that December’s pink slip count was the lowest since July 2008 for small firms, those with 50 or fewer workers. On the other hand, service-oriented small businesses actually hired a net 11,000 workers in December.

Despite the hope for a 2010 rebound, the nation’s smallest companies still cut 1.8 million jobs last year, almost 40% of the 4.7 million positions lost, by ADP’s estimates.