US Small-Business Owners and their expectations over 2022!

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is the voice of America’s small and independent business owners. The NFIB Research Center has collected Small Business Economic Trends data with quarterly surveys since 1973 and monthly surveys since 1986. Survey respondents are randomly drawn from NFIB’s membership.

In their latest survey the ‘Uncertainty Index’ decreased four points to 63. NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg explained that the outlook for business conditions is considered to be not very encouraging to small business owners. They not only anticipate additional mandates and tax increases, but are also relatively pessimistic because of inflation and supply chain disruptions.

However, the most recent quarterly “Small Business Optimism Index” shows that small-business owners were somewhat more optimistic at the end of 2021. The index raised 0.2 points to 98.4 in November. Of the 10 index components, four improved, four declined and two remained steady. Most respondents reported increased prices in 2021 — and/or plan to increase their prices in the future.