WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 18, 2024) – NFIB President Brad Close joined Bloomberg: The Close to discuss this month’s surge in the Small Business Optimism Index, which rose above the 50-year average in November for the first time since 2021.

Close highlights the factors leading to an increase in optimism among Main Street owners, such as expectations for new leadership that promises small business-friendly legislation and regulation that will lead to strong economic growth.

Watch Close’s full interview here.

“In a nutshell, economic policy matters, and there’s no doubt that the election results spurred a lot of the optimism, that surge in optimism, that we saw in our monthly economic survey. Small business owners are looking forward to an administration coming in that’s going to address the concerns that the little guys – half the economy in America –really cares about and that’s tax policy, that’s cutting regulations and getting the economy going again.”

“If you look at one of the biggest issues that small business owners are concerned about, the Small Business Deduction, their ability to deduct 20% of their small business income on their business taxes, that’s huge. That was created in 2017 right, so the economy took off after that tax bill went through. That policy expires in a year. Small business owners know that, and they are very optimistic that the incoming administration which has said that they want to extend and make that provision permanent is ready to get started on that.”

“…when you look at NFIB, our typical member is five to ten employees which is very reflective of the small business market across the country. So, we’re talking really small businesses all over the country. They tend to come more slowly out of bad economic times and certainly the last three to four years have been very hard on that half of the economy, the small business side. But when you look at the optimism that you saw, I think that is a significant precursor of what we’re going to see over the next six months.”

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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 nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. 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.