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NFIB Survey Reveals Top Small Business Problems

NFIB's recent Problems and Priorities survey highlights a critical election-year issue: The cost of health insurance remains the top problem for small business in America—as it has been for two decades.

The survey results are from the seventh edition of NFIB's Small Business Problems and Priorities survey, which is based on the responses of 3,530 small business owners.

Conducted every four years, the survey asks respondents to rate 75 possible business problems on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 indicating a "critical problem" and 7 indicating "not a problem."

This year's survey indicated the top 10 critical problems for small business owners:

  1. Cost of Health Insurance
  2. Cost of Natural Gas, Propane, Gasoline, Diesel, Fuel Oil
  3. Federal Taxes on Business Income
  4. Property Taxes (Real, Inventory, or Personal Property)
  5. Tax Complexity
  6. Unreasonable Government Regulations
  7. State Taxes on Business Income
  8. Cost of Supplies/Inventories
  9. Electricity Costs (Rates)
  10. Workers’ Compensation Costs

Since the last survey, conducted in 2004, the major changes occurred with taxes, regulatory liabilities, imports and labor issues. "Interest rates" had the largest increase in problem status, rising 26 positions from 58th to 32nd place, and "finding and keeping skilled employees" rose 11 positions from 28th to 17th place. "Cost and availability of liability insurance" and "delinquent accounts/customer financing" tied for the biggest drop in ranking, as they both fell 11 places.

NFIB has been at the front of the fight against many of these small business issues, and this summer NFIB.com will take an in-depth look at the top five problems indicated by the survey results. Visit www.nfib.com/research to review the survey in its entirety, and stay tuned to NFIB.com for more information.