Mid-Year Economic Report Not So Encouraging

The National Small Business Association has released its 2009 Mid-Year Economic Report, and the results aren’t entirely encouraging.  Many small businesses are struggling, with owners being even less optimistic now than they were in December.

In December of 2008, 47 percent of respondents told the NSBA they thought their gross sales/revenue would decrease over the next 12 months.  Now, that percentage is up to an even 50.

A similar shift took place in terms of confidence.  Only 58 percent of small business owners classified themselves as confident in July, compared to 62 percent in December.

Finally, 29 percent of small business owners are planning to reduce their employee count over the next year, whereas just 26 percent intended to do so in December.

There might be a bit of good news to be found, though, in the degree to which opinions have changed.  As you look at the different statistics, you’ll see that, while the trends are negative, most numbers haven’t gotten a lot worse.

And here’s one more encouraging tidbit: the proportion of small business owners anticipating a recession in the next twelve months has dropped from 64 percent to 42 percent.