California Comment on Latest National Small Business Survey

June 13, 2023

California Comment on Latest National Small Business Survey

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: John Kabateck, California State Director, John@Kabstrat.com or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, Anthony.Malandra@nfib.org SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 13, 2023—Are small businesses’ inability to find workers and cope with inflation’s many tentacled effects the new normal along the Main Streets of the nation? That is one question raised by today’s release of the National Federation of Independent Business’ monthly Small Business Economic Trends (SBET) report (aka the Optimism Index) showing nothing much has changed from the previous 16 surveys. “Right now, the best California’s small-business owners can hope for is congressional passage of the Main Street Tax Certainty Act and other pro-small-business legislation, such as the Credit Card Competition Act,” said John Kabateck, California state director for NFIB. “They are getting no help from Sacramento at all.” The Main Street Certainty Act would make permanent the Small Business Deduction (Section 1991A), which is set to expire in 2025, and the Credit Card Competition Act would inject much-needed competition into credit card processing. As for the lack of help coming out of Sacramento, click here for a brief description and status of the 49 pieces of state legislation NFIB California has identified as either helpful or, more numerously, harmful to small businesses. Kabateck will be in Washington today through Thursday to participate in NFIB’s annual Fly-In event to lobby Congress on legislation vital to small-business owners. Today’s SBET The SBET (Optimism Index) is a national snapshot of NFIB-member, small-business owners not broken down by state. The typical NFIB member employs 10 people and reports gross sales of about $500,000 a year. This latest Index rose 0.4 points in May to 89.4, but it marked the 17th consecutive month below the survey’s 49-year history of 98. Highlights from today’s report include:

Forty-four percent of owners reported job openings that were hard to fill, down one point from April and remaining historically very high.

The net percent of owners raising average selling prices decreased one point to a net 32% (seasonally adjusted), still an inflationary level but trending down.

The net percent of owners who expect real sales to be higher deteriorated two points from April to a net negative 21%.

From NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg “Overall, small business owners are expressing concerns for future business conditions. Supply chain disruptions and labor shortages will continue to limit the ability of many small firms to meet the demand for their products and services, while less severe than last year’s experience.” Keep up with the latest on California small-business news at www.nfib.com/california or by following NFIB on Twitter @NFIB_CA or on Facebook @NFIB.CA. ### For 80 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 California 915 L. Street, Suite C-411 Sacramento, CA 95814 916-448-9904 www.nfib.com/CA Twitter: @NFIB_CA Facebook: @NFIB.CA