WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 13, 2025) – NFIB Research Center Executive Director Holly Wade joined Scarlet Fu and Romaine Bostick on Bloomberg: The Close to discuss this month’s Small Business Optimism Index.

Wade highlights NFIB’s February SBET survey and explains how small business owners remain optimistic as they adapt to ongoing inflationary pressures and changing economic conditions.

Watch Wade’s interview here: NFIB’s Holly Wade on Bloomberg: The Close

“We’ve seen a bit of moderation in our index from the post-election spike that hit 105. We’re now down to 100.7 – still a few points above the 51-year average of the survey. So, we’re still in a pretty good space as far as small business owner sentiment in February.”

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“[Labor issues and labor costs] combined have kind of outpaced the inflation picture for at least the month of February. And, but still 16% are saying that inflation is their single biggest problem. Some of that may be coming from compensation pressures. Still, a lot of small business owners are saying that they’ve increased compensation for retention and recruitment of those positions that they are eagerly trying to fill. And, so a lot of cost pressures continue but labor is the name of the game right now for a lot of small business owners. Especially in the construction and transportation industries.”

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