Small businesses are growing, hiring more staff and defying the economic downturn according to a survey by a global hiring platform.

The survey of small businesses found that as of July 2022, the average number of employees among Australian SMEs was higher than in January 2019.

The Employment Hero SME Index was 112.6 in July 2022 an increase of 7.7 points since July 2021 and only 0.1 point lower than the previous month.

However, the net employee growth is showing signs of slowing down, with the number of SME employees growing only 8.1 per cent compared to the same time last year – a decline of 0.4 per cent from June 2022.

Small enterprises (one to 19 employees) grew by 6.8 per cent when compared to July of the previous year, but contracted in employee size by -0.5 per cent when compared to the previous month. Medium enterprises (20–199 employees), on the other hand, grew by 22 per cent in employee size compared to July 2021, and saw modest employee growth of -0.1 per cent in the last month. Large enterprises (200+ employees) experienced the biggest growth in employee numbers, growing by 29.5 per cent since July 2021 and -0.5 per cent since the last month.

Employment by SMEs in the construction & trade services declined by -0.5 per cent (since June 2022), however, the sector experienced growth in employment since July 2021 (7.1 per cent) Similarly, SMEs in retail, hospitality & tourism declined by -0.5 per cent since June 2022 but grew by a significant 8.8 per cent since July 2021.

Month-on-month (MoM) demand for employees decreased the least among SMEs in the healthcare & community services and science, information & communication technology industries (-0.3 per cent for both). However, both grew by 10.0 per cent and 6.4 per cent respectively since July 2021. SMEs in manufacturing, transport & logistics declined by -0.4 per cent in net employees but grew by 7.3 per cent since July 2021.