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New Survey of Small Business Shows Slight Uptick in Optimism

by National Small Business Association on

Today, the National Small Business Association (NSBA) is releasing a new survey on how COVID-19 is impacting America’s small businesses and what they anticipate in the coming months ahead. The survey shows modest improvements in small-business confidence and economic outlook, and a lower overall impact of the pandemic.

“Despite these gains in outlook, COVID-19 continues to wreak widespread economic hardship and insecurity among small businesses as a result of the near-constant changing status of the pandemic,” stated NSBA President and CEO Todd McCracken. “Business and job growth in this turbulent environment is virtually impossible for most small businesses.”

The survey paints a picture of a small-business community slightly better off today than they were two months ago, but a far fall from where they stood economically in January. Today, while the majority of small businesses (69 percent) say they are very concerned about the coronavirus, that number is down from 85 percent two months ago. Two-in-three small-businesses say they are still experiencing reduced customer demand, however that is down from 80 percent in April.

Not only is the pandemic costing business owners massive drops in demand, 82 percent have made workspace changes to the tune of $11,729 on average for the initial set-up with ongoing monthly costs averaging around $1,800. Furthermore, just one-third of small businesses are very confident they will fully recover from the pandemic and economic downturn.

“Small-business owners are inherently optimistic and confident in their ability to run their business, however economic insecurity can become an insurmountable hurdle,” stated NSBA Chair Marc Amato of Walco Electric Company in Providence, Rhode Island. “Absent a clear path forward, we could see a notable reversal of the more positive small-business outlook we’re seeing now.”

The survey was taken among 630 small-business owners June 16-23.

Celebrating more than 80 years in operation, NSBA is a member-driven nonpartisan organization advocating on behalf of America’s entrepreneurs. NSBA’s 65,000 members represent every state and every industry in the U.S., and we are proud to be the nation’s first small-business advocacy organization. Please visit www.nsba.biz.