NSBA Report: Small Business Confidence Drops

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Sep 12, 2012, 12:01 ET

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Small Business Association (NSBA) today released its Mid-Year Economic Report, a snapshot of how small businesses are faring today. Unfortunately, small-business owners are less optimistic about the outlook of their own firms and the overall economy than in the previous six months.

"While the dip in outlook is in-line with cyclical drops in optimism mid-year, there's more to it," stated NSBA President and CEO Todd McCracken. "The constant barrage of negative campaigning and near-complete failure of Washington to govern is having a broad, negative effect on America's small businesses."

Six months ago, the number of small-business owners who anticipated a recession was just 14 percent—today that number has jumped to 34 percent, the highest it's been since December 2009. Correspondingly, the number of small-business owners who anticipate economic expansion in the coming 12 months was cut nearly in half from 20 percent six months ago to 11 percent today.

One bright spot: the long-term economic outlook is slightly improved with 23 percent now saying that today's economy is better than it was five years ago, the highest it's been in four years.

Unfortunately the near-term outlook shows that 44 percent of small-business owners think the national economy is worse today than it was six months ago—up from 31 percent in December 2011. Furthermore, the number of small-business owners who are not confident about the future of their business jumped from 25 percent six months ago to 40 percent today, the largest increase in nearly five years.

There was a small decrease in employment over the past six months from 22 percent who increased their employee size six months ago to just 19 percent today—although a decrease, it wasn't on-par with drops in other indicators.

"Given that economic uncertainty is the most significant challenge small-business owners face today, it should come as no surprise that addressing the deficit is the number one thing we want policymakers to address," said Chris Holman, CEO of Michigan Business Network.com and President of The Greater Lansing Business Monthly.

Click here to download the report.

Celebrating its 75th anniversary, NSBA is a staunchly 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.

SOURCE National Small Business Association