Business and political reporters around the world (literally) know NFIB’s monthly Small Business Economic Trends Report (also known as the Optimism Index) to be the gold-standard measurement of the nation’s Main Street economy. It has no equal.

Now in its 47th year, “The SBET’s primary value is anticipating short-run fluctuations in economic activity,” according to its history. “An additional value of the SBET is its measurement of small business activities and concerns over time. The benefit of a longitudinal data set offers an invaluable perspective on how policies and business cycles impact small businesses over time.

“The SBET is one of the few archival data sets on small business, particularly when research questions address business operations rather than opinions. Today, it’s the largest, longest-running data set on small business economic conditions available.”

For NFIB state directors across the nation, release of the latest SBET provides a springboard to call attention to a pressing issue particular to a state, as NFIB Colorado State Director Tony Gagliardi did for The Business Times, “The hope is gone for many owners. Another round of (Paycheck Protection Program) loans could certainly help, but so too would some certainty of protection from frivolous lawsuits. When businesses follow guidelines imposed by government officials designed to protect the employees and the public, those same officials should not leave these businesses exposed to further damage caused by frivolous lawsuits.”

Even when there’s no tie-in to the latest SBET results, its delivery can often remind a reporter to get small business’ side for a separate story entirely, as it did with the Denver Business Journal for a report on whether the state should impose a fee on the sale of gasoline.

The SBET, NFIB’s monthly Jobs Report, and its quadrennial Small Business Problems & Priorities study deliver the small-business message to the nation in fact-based, credible ways that support our mission to be the Voice of Small Business.