Small enterprise optimism is at a four-year excessive, however persistent financial points have made this yr’s presidential cycle much more necessary for small enterprise house owners.
The Q3 2024 MetLife/U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Enterprise Index launched Tuesday confirmed that small enterprise house owners are extra upbeat now about their companies than they’ve been previously 4 years, however nonetheless share one persistent, frequent concern: For greater than two years, inflation has topped the record because the factor enterprise house owners are most fearful about.
Associated: We Requested 500 Small Enterprise Homeowners What They Thought Concerning the Economic system, Inflation and the Upcoming Election. Right here Are the Outcomes.
Most small enterprise house owners surveyed (59%) acknowledged that the economic system and inflation must be an important priorities for the subsequent administration, with 56% noting that inflation was their private largest concern.
Income was the second highest concern (28%), adopted by worker advantages (16%) and rates of interest (15%).
Greater than seven in 10 enterprise house owners (71%) indicated that they had been extra within the 2024 election than they’d been within the 2020 election, whereas almost 4 out of 5 (78%) mentioned that the subsequent President and Congress ought to prioritize the economic system and inflation, an over 20% improve from survey outcomes performed on the similar time 4 years in the past.
Associated: How the 2024 Election End result May Have an effect on Curiosity Charges and Influence Your Funds
The index was primarily based on a survey of 752 small enterprise house owners from July 18 to August 2. It quantified general optimism with a rating of 71.2, increased than the 50.3 rating recorded 4 years prior within the third quarter of 2020 and better than every rating recorded between Q3 2020 and Q3 2024.
Though the considerations had been plentiful, there was additionally some optimism, too.
Of the small enterprise house owners surveyed, 73% anticipated to extend income subsequent yr — the very best share because the Index began in 2017. Hiring can also be on the rise, with 44% anticipating including extra workers in 2025.
“The native economic system feels sturdy, eating places and purchasing facilities are busy,” one enterprise proprietor from Marietta, Georgia acknowledged within the report.
