Global business platform Xero has released its latest data as part of the Xero Small Business Index that covers statistics from February to June 2023.
The Xero Small Business Index averaged 120 points in the first five months of this year, which is above the last result of 112 that was revealed at the end of 2022.
The data has been calculated from aggregated and anonymised transactions from hundreds of thousands of small businesses across the country.
The report also revealed that sales growth has slowed to 8 per cent y/y this quarter, which is slower than the three month average from January to March 2023, but above the long-term 7.8 per cent y/y average.
However, the data also showed that small businesses are still selling more goods and services than they were this time last year.
The Xero Small Business Index also revealed that wages growth equated to 3.1 per cent y/y, which is a decrease from the 3.9 per cent y/y recorded at the end of 2022.
Hospitality and construction industries had the largest wage rises with 4.4 per cent y/y and 4.3 percent y/y respectively.
Data showed that hiring was still a hard task for small businesses with the job growth statistic the weakest of the report.
Job growth sat at an average of 2.3 per cent y/y for the quarter which was much lower than the 3.4 per cent y/y that was recorded for the whole of 2022.
Hospitality was revealed the be the second weakest industry for job growth at 0 per cent y/y behind real estate.
With the exception of June, the report also revealed payment times sat stable with small businesses waiting and average of 23.0 days to be paid in the first five months of 2023.
“We know itʼs been a difficult start to the year for many Australian small businesses, but itʼs promising to see there are positive signs, such as easing wage pressures, in the latest data from Xeroʼs Small Business Insights,” said Xero Australia Country Manager Will Buckley.
“Small businesses have shown resilience in the face of interest rate rises and high inflation but while household budgets are tight at the moment, we encourage Australians to continue supporting small businesses in their communities in whatever way they can.”
For more information and the full results, visit xero.com/au/resources/small-business-insights/