Dip in small-business optimism due to record-high job openings, supply-chain disruptions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Barbara Quandt, acting Utah State Director, [email protected]
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, [email protected]
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Oct. 12, 2021—From Barbara Quandt, acting Utah state director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s largest small-business association, on today’s release of NFIB’s monthly Small Business Economic Trends report (aka the Optimism Index). The SBET is a national poll not broken down by state.
“Thanks to the admirably pro-small-business policies of Utah’s state leaders, things are never as bad here as they are in other parts of the nation, but no state is an economic island that is unaffected by its neighbors. Right now, Congress is sending the wrong message with its calls for more taxes and mandates, and until it’s clear what course it eventually takes, a great unease lies across the land.”
For more specific details on congressional threats to a full small-business recovery, click this link, and click here to read NFIB’s national news release, which contains a link to the full SBET report.
From NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg
“Small business owners are doing their best to meet the needs of customers but are unable to hire workers or receive the needed supplies and inventories. The outlook for economic policy is not encouraging to owners, as lawmakers shift to talks about tax increases and additional regulations.”
Key findings include:
- The NFIB Uncertainty Index increased five points to 74.
- Owners expecting better business conditions over the next six months decreased five points to a net negative 33%.
- Fifty-one percent of owners reported job openings that could not be filled, a 48-year record high for the third consecutive month.
- A net 42% of owners reported raising compensation, a 48-year record high.
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For 78 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 our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
