Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index, July 2024

Small business employment: up by 200 jobs

Employment at UK small businesses with one to nine employees increased by 200 jobs in June compared to May — now employing 4,284,000 people. As the chart below shows, employment is down by 8,100 jobs compared to June 2023 (an annual decrease of 0.19%), but the overall trend since January has been more positive, with a small increase of 800 jobs.

Similarly, as the “Job Vacancies” tab shows on the chart above, the decline in small business hiring has slowed considerably this year. Currently, there are 134,000 open positions at small businesses in the UK — largely unchanged since January. This suggests pressure on small businesses may be easing, or perhaps they paused major hiring decisions until after the general election. Future Index updates will reveal if this is the beginning of a turnaround or not.

Monthly employment growth rate: unchanged

June’s increase in small business employment wasn’t large enough for the Index to register a positive monthly growth rate (which is why the chart below shows 0.00%). The explanation can be found in the “employment by sector” section, below, where expansion and contraction almost cancel each other out.

Employment by sector: six sectors expand but seven do not

In June, small business employment increased in six of the 13 sectors covered by the Index, but decreased in the other seven. The fastest employment growth at small businesses was in the information and communication sector (SIC J, which includes publishers, media companies and telecommunications) with a 1.13% increase thanks to 2,200 jobs created since May. The education sector (SIC P) had the fastest monthly decrease, at 2.52%, with 1,600 fewer jobs at small businesses.

On the table below, use the green “Job Vacancies” tab to see the number of open positions by sector instead of the monthly employment data.

Employment by nation and region: another mixed picture

In June, small business employment decreased in Scotland and Wales but increased in Northern Ireland and England. Within England, only the West Midlands had declining employment, with 100 fewer jobs (0.03% decrease). The South West and the South East had the fastest growth, with 100 jobs created in each region (0.02% increases). Use the green “Job Vacancies” tab on the map below to see the number of open positions at small businesses by nation or region.

More information

Get all the details from the interactive Small Business Index dashboard.

Media inquiries

Media contact details for QuickBooks in the UK can be found here on the QuickBooks UK website.

USA Index

The Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index is also published monthly in the US. Get the latest small business employment insights for the US here. 

Canada Index

The Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index is also published monthly in Canada. Get the latest small business employment insights for Canada here.

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