Let’s start turning glimmers of hope into rays of economic sunshine
DENVER, March 4, 2021—From Tony Gagliardi, Colorado state director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), on the release today of NFIB’s monthly Jobs Report finding that 56% of small business owners reported hiring or trying to hire in February, up 5 points from January and that a net 18% of owners reported they are planning to create new jobs in the next three months.
“We’re coming up on the March 11, one-year-anniversary date of Gov. Jared Polis’s executive order declaring COVID-19 state of emergency and you would be hard-pressed to find many people who believe our economy has turned around or is on the right track, even with the vaccines. Today’s Jobs Report does give some glimmer of hope, but the Legislature needs to build on that by at least accomplishing two things above all: One, abolish the business personal property tax as the governor asked in his State-of-the-State speech; Two, give small-business owners some peace of mind that they will not be hit with an unfair COVID lawsuit if they stay open or re-open for business. To the public, these two things might not seem much, but to small-business owners it means a great deal, because they know loans and grants are fine to a point, but they will never have the positive economic sticking power customers walking through the door will.”
From NFIB’s National News Release
- “The COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt the labor market, especially when some parts of Main Street are still closed or restricted due to state and local mandates,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. “It is important that elected officials keep their attention on the small business economic recovery and ensure those small businesses are getting the help they need.”
- Small businesses increased employment by 0.34 workers per firm on average over the past few months, following good readings in December and January. Forty percent of owners reported job openings they could not fill in the current period, up 7 points from last month.
- Thirty-three percent of businesses have openings for skilled workers (up 5 points) and 16% have openings for unskilled labor (up 4 points).
Contact: Tony Gagliardi, Colorado State Director, [email protected],
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, [email protected]
Keep up with the latest Colorado small-business news at www.nfib.com/colorado or by following NFIB on Twitter @NFIB_CO or on Facebook @NFIB.CO
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For more than 77 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven association. Since its founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
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