Are three proposals before the Albuquerque City Council harming a small business rebound?
SANTA FE, N.M., June 23, 2020—Results from a national survey of small-business owners released today by their leading association revealed a variety of information on such things as the use of the two federal loan programs, how many would be using the extended forgiveness period, how many will need more money, and awareness of the tax deferment provision.
“No survey can paint a complete picture,” said Jason Espinoza, New Mexico state director for NFIB, which took the poll of its small-business owning members, “and this one doesn’t measure the negative impact a couple of state and local actions – or non-action in one case – are having that will harm small business recovery. One is the state’s failure to come up with some liability protections for small businesses against baseless COVID-19 lawsuits. Another are proposals being considered by the Albuquerque City Council that will stick small-business owners with greatly increased costs to pay for additional sick leave, ‘emergency’ premium pay, and enhanced PPE costs. Councilmembers don’t seem to know that there are no benefits to collect from a job you don’t have because it became too, too costly to have you employed.”
Key findings from the survey include:
- The number of small business owners applying for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan increased slightly over the last two weeks.
- Nearly all PPP applications (97%) have received their loans.
- Over half (59%) of PPP loan borrowers are taking advantage of the extended 24-week forgiveness period.
- Some owners report having to adjust their workforce to reflect the economic environment with 14% of PPP loan borrowers anticipating having to lay off employees after using the loan.
- Over one-third of owners (35%) have applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and most are still waiting for their loan to be processed.
- Economic conditions have improved for many small business owners over the last month as states have eased business restrictions and stay at home orders.
- The economic and health crisis is lasting much longer than the PPP’s initial design of primarily supporting two months of payroll and limited non-payroll expenses, and of the EIDL’s reduced loan distributions.
- About 41% of respondents are familiar with the new tax deferment provision and about 6% of respondents have taken advantage of it.
- Most small business owners have had to adjust their business operations to some degree due to the COVID-19 health crisis.
“Small businesses are entering the fourth month of economic crisis and are still experiencing a heavy amount of uncertainty and complications,” said Holly Wade, NFIB Director of Research & Policy Analysis. “Now that owners have more flexibility in using their PPP loan, they can focus on adjusting business operation accordingly as states loosen business restrictions.”
Click here to read NFIB’s national news release on the survey results, or here to go right to the survey.
Keep up with the latest on New Mexico small-business at www.nfib.com/new-mexico.
Contact: Jason Espinoza, State Director, [email protected]
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, [email protected]
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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.
NFIB New Mexico
505-417-4001
NFIB.com/NM
Twitter: @NFIB_NM
