The optimism of small business took a significant decline by 0.9 points in March reaching its lowest since 2012, according to the National Federation Independent Business. State Director Leah Long says this reflects ongoing challenges in managing economic hurdles.
“They’re just not optimistic because of inflation. That’s the biggest issue right now. Labor quality and labor shortage and inflation is really hurting them.”
It’s the 27th consecutive month that optimism has declined below the 50-year average. While the labor market has shown marginal improvement, 37 percent of owners who are trying to hire, report few or no qualified applicants.
“People still really aren’t going to work and if they are they’re not qualified. The small business owner that doesn’t have a lot of employees that’s one of those things where you have to have the right one or the qualified one. As a small business owner you never really know what those employee are fully going to be doing.”
Aside from inflation, 43 percent of owners report raising sell prices. Long says owners are determined to get through this but hopes lawmakers are planning business reform solutions to boost the economy.
“Lots of things going on with sessions right now. Insurance cost also burden our small business owners and there’s a lot of different reforms going on in session right now. So we’re hoping to see some positive things from that.”
