SALEM, Ore., July 14, 2015—The monthly economic measurement of the most important group of employers, the small-business owners of America, dropped alarmingly, and this is before the disastrous policy consequences coming out of the Oregon Legislature have had a chance to take effect, said the Oregon state director for the National Federation of Business, today.
As it does every month, the National Federation of Independent Business, America’s Voice of Small Business, released its Index of Small Business Optimism this morning, which measures the pulse of the nation’s largest employer group—Main Street entrepreneurs. The NFIB Research Foundation has collected Small Business Economic Trends data since 1974, originally publishing them quarterly and then monthly, since 1986. Survey respondents are drawn from NFIB’s membership nationally. The report is released on the second Tuesday of every month. For 41 years, NFIB’s Index of Small Business Optimism has been one of the nation’s bellwether economic barometers, used by the Federal Reserve, congressional leaders, presidential administrations, and state legislators and governors. NFIB has 350,000 dues-paying members across the nation, including 7,500 in Oregon.
“The President continues to push regulations to pay people more in higher wages, more overtime, health insurance, etc.,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. “However, he does not pursue policies that help increase productivity. Higher pay with the same output means inflation or unemployment or both, neither being good for workers or businesses.”
Added Jan Meekcoms, NFIB’s Oregon state director, “The same federal trends that are suppressing small-business optimism throughout the country are the same trends that prevailed in Oregon’s legislative session that ended July 6: Mandated paid sick leave, mandated retirement plan for private sector employees, “ban the box” legislation, and wage-discussion regulations. The weight of government’s intrusion into the life of a small business is back-breaking for many Main Street entrepreneurs.”
The full report can be read here. Follow us on Twitter @NFIB_OR
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For more than 70 years, the National Federation of Independent Business has been the Voice of Small Business, taking the message from Main Street to the halls of Congress and all 50 state legislatures. NFIB annually surveys its members on state and federal issues vital to their survival as America’s economic engine and biggest creator of jobs. NFIB’s educational mission is to remind policymakers that small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses; they have very different challenges and priorities.
National Federation of Independent Business/Oregon
3340 Commercial St. S.E. Suite 210
Salem, OR 97302
503-364-4450
