Optimism among small businesses declined for the month of August as inflation continues to drive costs higher. NFIB State Director Dawn McVea says the optimism index decreased 0.6 last month to 91.3, for the 20th consecutive month below the 49-year average of 98.
“We’re really hearing that these inflationary levels of cost of goods, the cost of labor is really giving them a bad feeling about the next couple of months,” said McVea.
McVea says small business owners are reporting that they feel like they are losing sale opportunities whether it’s because of inflation or the lack of labor.
“They’ve had to look at cutting hours of operation to make it work. If they don’t have enough people to come in at 10 am now they’re opening at 11 and so that’s an hour of potentially lost sales,” said McVea.
As for future optimism, fewer small business owners have a positive outlook for the next six months. McVea says that’s unfortunate because typically retailers look for a strong 4th quarter with promotions like Small Business Saturday.
She says it’s so important that consumers shop locally versus big-box retailers.
“Those tax dollars don’t really stay here in the economy, whereas when you shop with the local folks, those dollars get churned back into the economy, through their employees and through their tax dollars,” said McVea.
Forty percent of small business owners reported job openings that were hard to fill, down two points from July, but it remains historically high.
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