This is the 11th edition of Small Business Problems and Priorities. The first edition was published in 1982 followed by editions in 1986, 1991, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024. The volumes are among the NFIB Research Center’s most popular publications and therefore have become a staple. A 12th edition is scheduled for publication in mid-2028
This publication is based on a research procedure that has remained fundamentally unchanged since its inception. A large sample of small business owners, all members of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), is sent a mail questionnaire and two subsequent reminders. The questionnaire presents 75 potential business problems, including public policy-related issues. Respondents are asked to rate the severity of each potential problem on a scale of 1 to 7 anchored by “Critical Problem” on one end and “Not a Problem” on the other.
The array of potential problems presented to small business owners for evaluation has undergone minor changes over the years to account for shifts in business conditions, technologies, and expressed concerns. The 2024 survey substituted two new potential problems for two that elicited minimal interest in the previous edition, “The Cost and Availability of Child Care” and “Credit Card Payment Processing Costs.” Still, the list of potential business problems assessed in 2024 closely resembles the list produced in prior years. The publication format is also similar in all editions.
This publication begins with an overview of results from the total population of small business owner respondents. It then examines the most important problems, the least important problems, problems on which there is the most and least consensus, the relative importance of various problems clustered by topic, and changes in ranking from prior surveys. The remainder and bulk of the publication highlights owner assessments of the problem list by a variety of demographic categories.
The purpose of this research is twofold. First, the survey and publication establish the relative importance of small business owner concerns and thereby a de facto issues priority list for NFIB. The organization uses this list to help prioritize advocacy efforts to best reflect the concerns of NFIB’s membership. NFIB was founded and continues to be operated on the principle that the membership governs. Policy positions are established by one-member, one-vote rather than by committee or other means. Problems and Priorities is designed to help accomplish that objective.
A second purpose for producing the survey is to provide those interested in small business issues a list of small business owner concerns. Claims are often made regarding the problems and interests of small business owners with little or no empirical evidence to support them. Problems and Priorities provides a large, comprehensive dataset to evaluate their hypotheses.
Problems and Priorities is unique. The survey has a large number of respondents. Two thousand eight hundred and seventy-three (2,873) small business owners returned usable questionnaires out of 40,000 surveys mailed. The sizable response allows break-outs into a large number of respondent categories or groups with adequate response numbers to analyze and compare them. It is therefore possible to note where the responses of those in different categories or groups vary from the population and between each other.
The second characteristic making the study unique is that most surveys of this genre are limited to comparatively few issues. Problems and Priorities lists 75 issues, or problems, for evaluation. The list includes two basic types of problems: those heavily influenced by government including various types of taxes and regulations, and problems more associated with business operations. The combination provides broad context and allows readers a better understanding of the relative importance of problems affecting small business owners that are internally and externally generated.
Finally, the sample for this study is one of the most representative groups of small business owners used to produce problem rankings and priorities. Many published surveys of this nature confine themselves to particular segments of the small business population. Focusing on specific populations of small businesses is often helpful, but limiting in how the information is able to be used. Results of these type of surveys simply warrant caution and appreciation for what the survey does and does not represent. A brief comparison between respondents and the small business population produced by administrative records of federal agencies can be found in the Appendix. There are two major variances between the small business population and NFIB population. First, the NFIB population includes those small businesses in agriculture and related industries. The Census does not include agriculture in defining the small business population. Also, NFIB members are more likely to be located in the interior states and are less so represented on the East and West coasts or in major cities compared to the general population.
The data for Problems and Priorities are presented in 21 tables. The tables constitute the most important part of the publication. Commentary is intended to point out differences and patterns of differences in the tables that may not be immediately obvious to the reader.
NFIB Research Center
July 2024
