The rate of employment among small businesses in the US continued to grow in August, new statistics have indicated.

An extra 26,000 jobs were added to the sector during the period in question, a rise of 0.1 per cent, Intuit has reported.

The company's Small Business Employment Index suggested that the rate of employment growth has slowed since the start of the year and stood at 1.2 per cent year-on-year last month.

However, new positions are continuing to be created by smaller enterprises, while wages and hours worked remained steady during August.

"Small businesses generally lead big businesses in hiring at the end of a recession, so we would have hoped to see more employment growth in this sector now," economist Susan Woodward remarked.

A total of 340,000 small business roles have been generated since employment started to expand in October 2009.

According to a recent report by the US Congressional Budget Office, legislation introduced by the Obama administration has helped companies to create jobs and has reduced unemployment.

Posted by Fiona Summers