Despite Government Shutdown Franchise Hiring in January Soars

Employment through franchised establishments in the United States grew by a robust 33,000 jobs from December to January, according to ADP Research Institute. It is the highest increase in franchise jobs since February of 2018, which matched this month’s job numbers.

The last month that soared above such strong hiring numbers was June of 2016, which had a growth of over 40,000 jobs.

Hiring remains very competitive in this tight labor market for most franchises.

“The labor market has continued its pattern of strong growth with little sign of a slowdown in sight,“ said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “We saw significant growth in nearly all industries, with manufacturing adding the most jobs in more than four years. Midsized businesses continue to lead job creation, however the share of jobs was spread a bit more evenly across all company sizes this month.”

Franchised restaurants provided the lion’s share of hiring, increasing by 36,000 jobs from December. However, franchised business services lost 2,600 jobs and hotels dropped 1,400 positions.

Small businesses, which are companies from 1 to 49 employees, increased by a strong 63,000 hires in January, according to ADP.  The service-providing sector provided the largest share of growth.

As a whole, private sector employment increased by 213,000 jobs from December to January.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said, “The job market weathered the government shutdown well. Despite the severe disruptions, businesses continued to add aggressively to their payrolls. As long as businesses hire strongly the economic expansion will continue on.”