Small Business Owners Persevere Amidst Rising Cost Pressures and Inflation: NFIB Survey Reveals

Despite facing increasing cost pressures, including inflation, small business owners are continuing to serve their customers amidst rising levels of uncertainty. According to the NFIB’s April Small Business Economic Trends survey, small business owners are dealing with historically high levels of cost pressures. This has led to an increase in compensation in order to attract more employees. Despite these challenges, the Small Business Optimism Index saw a slight increase of 1.2 points in April, reaching 89.7.

Small business owners remain historically pessimistic overall, with a net negative 36% expecting better business conditions over the next six months. This represents an improvement of six points from November and is a significant increase from last June’s reading of a net negative 61%. Additionally, a net 29% of owners plan to raise compensation in the next three months, while the net percent of owners raising average selling prices remains unchanged at 25%.

Looking ahead, the report shows that a net 12% of owners are planning to create new jobs in the next three months, reflecting a reversal of the previous trend. This figure is up one point from March’s lowest level since May 2020. The full Small Business Economic Trends report and the NFIB Jobs Report are available for further analysis.