TED: The Economics Daily

Small businesses—firms with fewer than 249 employees—accounted for 99 percent of the 5.6 million firms covered under Unemployment Insurance in the first quarter of 2023. Small Business Week, April 28–May 4, celebrates these businesses contributions to the economy. Over the last ten years, those small businesses have employed an average of 46 percent of the covered workforce.

In February 2024, quits rates (the number of quits during the entire month as a percentage of total employment) were above 3.0 percent in 6 states: Alaska (3.9 percent), Montana (3.6 percent), Idaho (3.2 percent), and Florida, South Carolina, and Wyoming (3.1 percent each). Among these states, the number of quits ranged from 9,000 in Wyoming to 303,000 in Florida. Nationally, there were 3,484,000 quits in February, and the U.S. quits rate was 2.2 percent.

Among all private industry workers participating in medical care plans, 51 percent were participating in high deductible health plans in 2023. Across occupational groups, 49 percent of management, professional, and related workers and 58 percent of natural resources, construction, and maintenance workers participated in high deductible health plans.

April 28 marks Workers Memorial Day, a day of remembrance for those killed, injured, or disabled on the job. In 2022, 5,486 workers suffered fatal work injuries in the United States.