ITEX Pioneer Passes
Ted
Pawlik, 62, passed away a week ago. And while many in today?s barter
industry might not know about Pawlik, he played an important role in
getting ITEX?now the largest barter company in the U.S.?off the
ground.
ITEX was incorporated in 1982 under founder Terry Neal in Phoenix,
Arizona. Ted Pawlik, like Neal, had been in the office equipment
field prior to joining up with Neal to become vice president of
sales for the newly formed ITEX.
Neal had lost everything, when he decided to manufacturer copy
machines in Japan during the Carter Administration, which saw
soaring interest rates and international currency fluctuations
whipsawing his investments.
Starting over, Neal, the married father of eight, was living in a
motel in Phoenix when he started studying the retail trade exchange
industry and the concept of the trade dollar.
Pawlik At His Side From
The Beginning
Providing the transportation for the new company was Pawlik?s
motorcycle, and it was his Visa card that funded the startup.
Additionally, Pawlik was the lead man when ITEX started converting
both failed Exchange Enterprises offices and Barter System
International offices into ITEX in 1983 and ?84.
In
1993 Pawlik left ITEX, returning to the office equipment field in
Phoenix. The proud father of two, he was a big supporter of AA and
was sober his last 18 years. Although he had a bout with cancer, he
never lost his zest for living and went skydiving on his birthday
this past August.
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Money-Making Reports Available From BarterNews
October 2008 SurePayroll
Small Business Scorecard
(Submitted to BarterNews
by Michael Alter, President, SurePayroll)
Small businesses are the Rocky Balboa of the economic world. Beat
them to a pulp and they keep on fighting. Despite all the economic
problems in October, U.S. small businesses still managed to grow in
size by 0.28%. The SurePayroll Hiring Index ended the month at
11,219 ? 31 points higher than where the index stood in September.
Year to date, small business hiring is up 3.0% nationwide.
However, growth in the last two months is down relative to the prior
two months of July and August. It appears that the end may be near
for small business growth, and we predict a downturn in hiring for
November and December.
As
the economic problems roll downhill, growing in size as they make
their way down to Main Street, it would truly be remarkable if small
businesses could still manage to grow on average.
To
be sure, there are winners in a down economy ? businesses that do
better in tough times ? but on aggregate we expect net losses in
hiring next month and into December. Our projection at this point is
that small business hiring growth for 2008 will end up around 2.9%.
Free Fall
For Salaries Continues
Business owners have been able to add new employees without
grimacing too much because salaries are lower. In fact, salaries
declined by 0.39% in October. That was not as bad (from the
employees? perspective anyway) as the previous month?s 0.51%
decline. As such, our data indicates that salary declines may be
slowing down.
Still, we are projecting lower salaries through the end of the year.
Year to date, salaries have dropped 2.2% on a national level. We are
expecting the 2008 salary decline to end the year having dropped
2.5%. As of the end of October, the average small business salary
now stands at $31,893. The SurePayroll Hiring Index is at 1,038,
dropping 4 points.
Use Of
Contractors On The Rise
For
folks who are out of work, becoming an independent contractor may be
the answer. In uncertain times, employers hedge their bets by
bringing on contractors instead of hiring full-time employees. By
doing so, they can save on payroll taxes and on benefits.
Use
of contractors was up 0.6% last month. That?s the ninth straight
month that we?ve seen an increase in the use of independent
contractors. The SurePayroll Contractor Index ended October at
3.67%, up from 3.64% in September.
When we say the Contract Index is 3.67%, that means that for every
100 workers engaged by small businesses in October, 3.67 are 1099
independent contractors and 96.33 are W2 employees. In rough terms,
this suggests that 1 out of every 27 workers in the United States is
working as an independent contractor, responsible for their own
benefits and burdened with costly self-employment taxes.
Regional
And State Performance
On
a regional basis, the Midwest, Northeast, and South experienced
hiring growth in October, whereas the West experienced a contraction
in hiring. The West had recorded 18 straight months of hiring growth
through the end of February 2008, but has shown weakness of late.
We?ve had five down months for hiring in the West in the most recent
seven months.
Monthly hiring gains for these regions were 0.7%, 0.9%, 0.3% and
-0.1% respectively. As it did in September, the Northeast led the
country in small business growth in October. With all of the woes on
Wall Street, we would expect that trend to end soon.
In
October, average salaries declined in all regions, except the West.
Salary changes for the Midwest, Northeast, South and West were 0.2%,
-0.8%, -0.8% and 0.4% respectively. You can get paid more in the
West, but it may be tougher to find a job there.
On
a year-to-date basis, hiring changes for the Midwest, Northeast,
South and West now stand at 6.2%, 7.9%, 5.7% and -0.3% respectively.
The West is the only region where hiring is down year to date. Year
to date salary changes for the Midwest, Northeast, South and West
are -1.6%, -6.1%. -7.9%. 4.8% respectively.
One
can argue that the Midwest is doing the best this year in surviving
the down economy because they have had respectable hiring growth
with acceptable salary declines relative to other regions.
As
depicted in the graphic below, year-to-date results vary from state
to state. The Scorecard comprises data from all fifty states but we
pay close attention to states that we have earmarked as ?benchmark
states? which include Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida,
Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New
York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Washington.
For
more information go to
www.surepayroll.com.
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