Few small businesses (11 percent) hired new employees in the last 12 months and the net number of employers who cut jobs was 25 percent. Despite projections for the coming year faring better — a projected net increase of five-percent — the majority project no growth in their number of employees.
These traditionally-upbeat entrepreneurs have a far-more negative outlook today than they have in the last several years. Nearly half do not believe there will be any growth opportunities for their business in the coming year and well over one-third — 41 percent — have concerns about the ongoing viability of their business. The majority of small-business owners (59 percent) expect the overall U.S. economy to be flat in the coming year, and 29 percent expect a recession.
With regards to policy, confusion over the new health care law plagues a significant majority of small businesses. Additionally, the new 1099 reporting requirements stand to increase the average number of firms for which small-businesses must file a 1099 report from an average of 10 to an average of 86.
"Amid all the financial concerns small-business owners face, the fact that Congress would approve this new, massively burdensome 1099 reporting requirement is unfathomable," stated NSBA Chair Larry Nannis, of Needham, Mass.-based CPA firm, Levine, Katz, Nannis + Solomon, PC.
