--- url: 'https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/founder-the-cut-and-the-hold/' title: 'In 2009, Workplaces Under 10 Raised Their Layoff Rate 38% and Cut Hiring 8%. At 50 to 249 Employees: Up 12%, Down 30%' author: name: Samantha Lankford url: 'https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/author/sam/' date: '2026-10-24T10:30:00-04:00' modified: '2026-10-24T10:30:00-04:00' type: post summary: 'BLS data, 2009 against 2007: small workplaces raised their layoff rate by more than a third. Mid-sized ones cut their hiring rate by more than a quarter.' categories: - Blog Post image: 'https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/founder-the-cut-and-the-hold-hero.webp' published: true --- # In 2009, Workplaces Under 10 Raised Their Layoff Rate 38% and Cut Hiring 8%. At 50 to 249 Employees: Up 12%, Down 30% ![The Lonely Entrepreneur](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/TLE_Logo_mobile-490W-26-26.png)Founder Data Report ![In 2009, Workplaces Under 10 Raised Their Layoff Rate 38% and Cut Hiring 8%. At 50 to 249 Employees: Up 12%, Down 30%](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/founder-the-cut-and-the-hold-hero.webp) Founder Data Report # In 2009, Workplaces Under 10 Raised Their Layoff Rate 38% and Cut Hiring 8%. At 50 to 249 Employees: Up 12%, Down 30% By Michael Dermer • Updated October 24, 2026 Join us Fridays at 12 PM ET to ask TLE CEO Michael Dermer your questions live. [Join the CEO Call →](https://shorturl.at/364XX) When the last long recession hit, workplaces of different sizes moved different levers. The small ones raised their layoff rate the most. The mid-sized ones cut hiring far more than they added to layoffs. Quick Answer In 2009, the worst year for layoffs between 2006 and 2010, workplaces with fewer than ten employees raised their layoff rate by **38%** on 2007 and cut their hiring rate by **8%**, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Workplaces of 50 to 249 leaned the other way: layoff rate up 12%, hiring rate down **30%**. Every band under 50 employees raised layoffs more, and cut hiring less, than every band from 50 to 999. The 30-second version - Under 10 employees: layoff rate 1.71% in 2007, 2.36% in 2009 (up 38%). Hiring rate 4.07% to 3.76% (down 8%). - 10 to 49: layoffs up 37%, hiring down 17%. - 50 to 249: layoffs up 12%, hiring down 30%. 250 to 999: layoffs up 17%, hiring down 26%. - In 2009, workplaces under 50 held about 42% of private jobs and made 47.9% of the layoffs. In 2007 the two shares were about a point apart. - Quits fell in every band, and fell further at the bigger ones, so part of their lower hiring is fewer departures to replace. ## Two levers, pulled in different proportions When work dries up, an employer can let people go, or stop adding them, or both. JOLTS measures both levers by the size of the workplace: layoffs and discharges, and hires, each as a share of employment. Across all private employers, 2009 brought a layoff rate 22% above 2007 and a hiring rate 22% below it. The averages hide a split. At workplaces under ten people the layoff rate rose from 1.71% to 2.36% a month, and at 10 to 49 from 1.62% to 2.22%. Those were the two highest layoff rates of any band in 2009. At 50 to 249, the layoff rate moved from 1.76% to 1.97%. In 2007 the under-ten band and the 50-to-249 band had laid people off at about the same rate. The Data Monthly layoff and discharge rate, 2007 and 2009, by workplace size 1-9 employees- 2007: 1.71%2009: 2.36%10-492007: 1.62%2009: 2.22%50-2492007: 1.76%2009: 1.97%250-9992007: 1.56%2009: 1.83%1,000-4,9992007: 1.02%2009: 1.18%5,000 or more2009: 0.57%2007: 0.68% 20072009 Annual mean of the twelve monthly rates, layoffs and discharges as a percent of employment. Slate is 2007, orange is 2009. The axis runs from 0.4% to 2.6% and does not start at zero. 5,000 or more is the only band where the rate fell. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), layoffs and discharges, hires and quits by establishment size class, total private, not seasonally adjusted, 2006-2010, retrieved from the BLS public data API on October 23, 2026. Rates are annual means of the twelve monthly rates. Size class is set by a workplace’s highest employment over the prior 12 months and held for a year. ## The bigger workplaces leaned on hiring Hiring tells the other half. At workplaces under ten the monthly hiring rate slipped from 4.07% to 3.76%, down 8%. At 10 to 49 it fell 17%. From 50 employees up, the drop was steeper: 30% at 50 to 249, 26% at 250 to 999 and 20% at 1,000 to 4,999. The largest workplaces, 5,000 or more, cut their hiring rate by 44% while their layoff rate fell. Part of this is quits: fewer people quit in every band, 19% fewer at the smallest and 40% fewer at 50 to 249, and a seat nobody leaves is a seat nobody has to fill. The Data Monthly hiring rate, 2007 and 2009, by workplace size 1-9 employees2009: 3.76%2007: 4.07%10-492009: 3.70%2007: 4.48%50-2492009: 3.34%2007: 4.78%250-9992009: 2.99%2007: 4.04%1,000-4,9992009: 2.27%2007: 2.85%5,000 or more2009: 1.32%2007: 2.34% 20072009 Annual mean of the twelve monthly rates, hires as a percent of employment. Slate is 2007, orange is 2009. The axis runs from 1% to 5% and does not start at zero. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), layoffs and discharges, hires and quits by establishment size class, total private, not seasonally adjusted, 2006-2010, retrieved from the BLS public data API on October 23, 2026. Rates are annual means of the twelve monthly rates. Size class is set by a workplace’s highest employment over the prior 12 months and held for a year. > Under ten employees, the layoff rate rose 38% and hiring fell 8%. At 50 to 249 it was 12% and 30%. ## Small workplaces carried more of the cut than their share of jobs Within 2009 itself, workplaces under 50 people held about 42% of private jobs and made 47.9% of the 25.8 million layoffs and discharges that year. Under ten alone: about 13.8% of jobs, 16.5% of layoffs. At 50 to 249 the two shares were level, and every band from 250 up had a smaller share of layoffs than of jobs. In 2007 the under-50 shares of jobs and layoffs had been about a point apart. The split held when the comparison year was moved back to 2006: every band under 50 still raised layoffs more, and cut hiring less, than every band from 50 to 999. The Data Share of private jobs against share of layoffs and discharges in 2009, by workplace size 1-9 employees Share of jobs13.8% Share of layoffs16.5% 10-49 Share of jobs28.1% Share of layoffs31.4% 50-249 Share of jobs32.0% Share of layoffs32.0% 250-999 Share of jobs16.0% Share of layoffs14.8% 1,000-4,999 Share of jobs7.8% Share of layoffs4.7% 5,000 or more Share of jobs2.2% Share of layoffs0.6% Slate is each band’s share of private employment in 2009, orange its share of the year’s layoffs and discharges. Job shares are derived from published counts and one-decimal rates and are accurate to about a point either way. Both bars use one scale. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), layoffs and discharges, hires and quits by establishment size class, total private, not seasonally adjusted, 2006-2010, retrieved from the BLS public data API on October 23, 2026. Rates are annual means of the twelve monthly rates. Size class is set by a workplace’s highest employment over the prior 12 months and held for a year. ## What to take from this if you run a small one The survey does not say why owners did what they did, and it would be a guess to supply a reason. What it shows is the shape: in the last long downturn, the smallest workplaces moved the layoff lever hard and the hiring lever lightly, and the mid-sized ones leaned the other way. If you run a small team, that is the pattern to plan against. The useful work happens before you need it: which roles you would protect, what you would stop adding first, and how many weeks of payroll you could carry while you decide. Four limits worth holding. JOLTS counts **workplaces, not companies**, so a nine-person branch of a chain sits in the under-ten band. Size bands are **reset every year**, so the piece compares rates, never head counts, across years. The size-class series are **not seasonally adjusted**; every rate here is a full-year average, which cancels the seasons. And the Bureau notes that survey response is **much lower in the larger size classes**, which are not reviewed for outliers, so the 5,000-or-more figures are the least certain. The Data Where the numbers land +38% change in the layoff rate at workplaces under 10, 2009 against 2007 -8% change in their hiring rate over the same two years -30% change in the hiring rate at 50 to 249 employees, where layoffs rose 12% 47.9% of 2009 layoffs at workplaces under 50, which held about 42% of jobs U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS by establishment size class, total private, not seasonally adjusted, 2007 and 2009. ## Frequently Asked Questions Did small workplaces lay off more workers in the 2008-09 recession? Relative to their size, yes. In the Bureau of Labor Statistics' JOLTS survey, workplaces with fewer than ten employees raised their monthly layoff rate from 1.71% in 2007 to 2.36% in 2009, a 38% rise. Workplaces of 50 to 249 rose 12%. How did hiring change by workplace size in 2009? It fell least at the smallest workplaces: the hiring rate was down 8% under ten employees and 17% at 10 to 49, against 30% at 50 to 249 and 26% at 250 to 999, comparing 2009 with 2007. What share of 2009 layoffs came from small workplaces? Workplaces with fewer than 50 employees made 47.9% of private-sector layoffs and discharges in 2009 while holding about 42% of private jobs. Why compare rates and not numbers of layoffs between years? JOLTS assigns each workplace to a size band by its highest employment over the previous year and resets the bands annually, so a band is not the same set of workplaces from one year to the next. Rates, which divide by each band's own employment, can be compared. Is this about companies or workplaces? Workplaces. JOLTS counts establishments, so a small branch of a large company is counted with other small workplaces. The figures describe where layoffs and hiring happened, not which size of company made them. Keep reading [Workplaces Under 50 People Held 43% of Private Jobs Before the 2020 Shock. They Made 53% of the Layoffs.](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/founder-the-spring-they-cut/) - [At Workplaces Under Ten People, 38.2% of Departures Are the Employer’s Call. In 2023 It Was 31.6%.](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/founder-the-call-is-yours/) - [The Smallest Employers Have 1.74 Jobs Standing Open for Every One They Fill. In 2017 It Was 1.02.](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/founder-the-seat-you-cannot-fill/) Part of the entrepreneurial struggle: [Leadership Burden](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/entrepreneur-struggle/leadership/) ![The Lonely Entrepreneur](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/TLE_Logo_mobile-490W-26-26.png) Published by **The Lonely Entrepreneur** — the community and coaching platform for entrepreneurs who are building alone. [lonelyentrepreneur.com](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/) This article is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for professional financial or legal advice.