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ICYMI: Holly Wade Discusses NFIB’s 50th Anniversary SBET Data on Bloomberg Markets

November 15, 2023

ICYMI: Holly Wade Discusses NFIB’s 50th Anniversary SBET Data on Bloomberg Markets

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 15, 2023) – NFIB Research Center Executive Director Holly Wade joined Bloomberg Markets to discuss NFIB’s October SBET report, which marks the 50^th anniversary of the survey. Wade notes that more small business owners reported lower earnings in October than in previous months, which contributed to the low levels of optimism shown in the survey. The labor shortage continues to hinder small businesses as they enter the last quarter of the year. “[Small business owners] are certainly still pessimistic about business conditions going forward, especially with 22% still saying inflation is still their single most important problem in operating their business. And, with the labor shortage still very much a challenge for small business owners, they’re not seeing very much relief.” “We’re still at 43% of small business owners reporting that they have an open position…So, small business owners are still looking to fill those positions; they’re increasing wages and compensation to try and do that as best they can, but it’s very frustrating when they’re looking at an environment of lost sales opportunities because they aren’t able to fully staff up.” “When we look at the decline [in the percentage of small businesses] saying they had higher earnings, which was a pretty significant drop from last month, most of them are saying that their lower earnings are a result of higher prices…second to that is lower sales volume. Still, that price pressure is eating into their earnings and causing a lot of problems on that front.”

Topics:

Economy

SBET

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