Will Small Business Put America Back To Work?

Despite the general gloom and doom about jobs, almost half of small businesses say they're planning to hire within the next six months, outpacing those that say they're not hiring, according to a study released today by Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project.

The study, conducted with Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp., surveyed approximately 7,500 U.S. small businesses (those with less than $5 million in revenues) and found that 40.7 percent plan to hire within six months, compared to 38.1 percent that don't plan to hire and 21.2 percent that don't know.

What can the government do to increase the hiring momentum? The small businesses surveyed said the policies most likely to lead to job creation in 2012 were increased access to capital (34.8 percent), followed by tax incentives (23.2 percent) and regulatory reform (18.3 percent).

Jeffrey Stibel, chairman and CEO of Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp., said in a statement that the study "strips away all the noise and clutter we hear in the news and uses objective research criteria to tell us why small business owners are not hiring: The answer is access to capital."

The generally optimistic hiring projections came in spite of the top three issues small businesses said they face today: economic uncertainty (38.2 percent), access to capital (26 percent) and government regulation and taxes (24.2 percent).

"Small businesses should be a top consideration as the President and other legislators seek to jump start job creation," John Paglia, associate professor of finance and lead researcher of the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project, said in a statement. "Establishing market confidence, improving access to capital and improving regulatory and tax structures are the most direct route to end the Great Recession and spark the Great Recovery."

Comments

[stevendedalus3]

12:41 PM on 09/11/2011

"The answer is access to capital." Bunk! Everybody knows that it's lack of consumer demand .. because the middle and lower class are either unemployed or afflicted with stagnated wages.

[intellectualTradition]

05:06 PM on 09/08/2011

as long as the don't vote 'left' or associate with same, yes we will put them to work

signed

the other 86% of the USA

[natgirrl]

03:24 PM on 09/08/2011

I own a small business with 8 employees, and I plan to expand by business by double in a 2 years. We need the president to put pressure on banks to start lending again. But what I and other small business owner need are custormers with good-paying jobs who can afford to purchase our goods and services. Customers are the real job-creators.

[Dh Barr]

09:42 PM on 09/09/2011

When the banks got in trouble they reacted by suddenly terminating the credit lines that many businesses depended on for short term financing. I agree with you wholeheartedly that they need to get the banks back into the business lending market.

[mrose001]

02:23 PM on 09/08/2011

Until we have the option of buying an American made toaster again for $30.00 against one made in China or Mexico for $50.00 we will struggle. They have to change trade laws, tariffs and taxes to encourage companies like Levi's, Mr. Coffee, GE, etc. to build or reopen their plants here in the US with American workers, because the taxes on imported products is so high it is beneficial to them.

For the GOP to continue to harp on tax cuts and loopholes for the large corporations is wrong. It has not created jobs in the US in over 10 years now. Just infrastructure and construction jobs will not bring the country back either. That is no more than a band aid for the problems we face.

America needs industry and manufacturing back in our country to thrive and begin to return to where it was. Taxing imports to the extent it will encourage American manufacturing again will change the face of unemployment. Ending the wars and foreign aid to our enemies that started our deficit, will provide the revenue stream to kick start the programs. All that combined with Americans working, and paying into the system rather than drawing from it will take care of the deficit.

Our dysfunctional Government "can't see the forest for the trees" encourage them to do the job they were elected to do, or we will replace as many of them as we an come 2012.

[rich08533]

02:46 PM on 09/07/2011

My company supports about 20 families. We will probably hire at least 1 person this year.
But, Obama is not listening to American voters. He is too busy spendng money. Most voters know that independent businesses are the life blood of our economy.

[topmind]

01:53 PM on 09/07/2011

Small businesses are NOT on the President's agenda since they do not have a lobby, nor contribute to election funding. Big businesses are highly respected, contribute to funding, have lobbies, lay off workers and DO NOT HIRE.

[jonesengr]

12:51 PM on 09/07/2011

We were not called and surveyed but we will hire two more people this year. A secretary and another technician. These are quality staff members which will bring us back to 2007 levels.

For us business has been both slow and busy all year long but overall we are up over last year. For the most part we want to see stability in the market place so our customers will start buying again. Everyone is hording cash or just plain slow pay and that hurts

[des946]

11:54 AM on 09/07/2011

Small businesses account for 90% of ALL jobs in the USA. Small businesses are classified as companies with 500 or less emplyees . . . 500 employees seems to be more than just a "small business". Wouldn't it be interesting (and rvealing) to know how many small businesses there are with only a hundred or fifty emplyees? That might put things into perspective. Why isn't there a more detailed breakdown of small businesses by category of the number of employees.

The realityis that they really don't want to disclose this information to the general public. That would emphasize the extent of the problems, and the importance of stimulating small businesses.

[Dh Barr]

09:43 PM on 09/09/2011

Get the 50 or fewer number - I think you will be seeing that expand as that is the cutoff before your business gets screwed by Obamacare.

[johnl68hi]

10:29 PM on 09/06/2011

“Never get married ever ! With the child support guidelines that are set up in most states. Lawyers are just waiting like sharks , they smell the blood and BAMM!!!!!!­! there goes all the money for your kids college or to pay your mortgage or for food!!!! REFORM FAMILY COURT !!!! STOP CHILD SUPPORT>> MAKE BOTH PARENT WORK TO FULL CAPACITY . IF THE NEED A BETTER JOB SEND THEM TO MANDITORY NURSING SCHOOL PAID FOR BY WELFARE , KIDS CAN GO TO DAYCARE PAID FOR BY THE STATE. ALSO INPLEMENT MANDITORY PRE-MARIAG­E CLASSES ONE YEAR 300 HOURS OF CLASS TIME , FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE A PROBLEM WITH COMMITMENT . BY THE WAY I`M 54 AND NEVER WANTED A DIVORCE , DID EVERYTHING I COULD TO SAVE MARRIAGE . EX HAS MOVED OUT SHE QUIT HER NURSING JOB AND DRIVES A SCHOOL BUS WITH HER DIVORCE NAZI FRIENDS , SHE TOOK HALF OF BOTH PENSIONS ,MADE ME BY THE HOUSE OVER AT TWICE THE PRICE I PAID FOR IT . BOTH KIDS LIVE WITH ME AND ALL OF US AGREE SHE SHOULD CHANGE HER NAME BACK ! She should not be allowed to have the same name of the children she hurt so badly!!!”

[des946]

12:02 PM on 09/07/2011

Aint love grand . . . at least in the beginning. Then the harsh reality of divorce and the way that our court systems are set up for the profitability of the divorce attorneys. When I was divorced three decades ago, I gave my EX everything that we had (which wasn't that much); and I went out and started life over again fromscratch. It worked out well. The best "revenge" is to simply live a good life. isn't it all sort of similar to the "economic marriage" between the wealthy and the average Americans who are the customers of the wealthy who account for their profits. If they starve and strangle the sheepels, then they lose the source of their future profits, don't they. meanwhile forget the injustices of your divorce and just move on with your life . . . focus all of your engeries and efforts towards rebuilding your life. Bitterness and desires for revenge are totally counter productive to your long term interests. (You have to accept that you made an error in judgement in marrying the gal, huh?)

[finwiz]

03:42 PM on 09/08/2011

Perhaps you could return to school and learn grammer.

[edmundavolio]

10:03 PM on 09/06/2011

The biggest problem for small business is the lack of big business production of consumer goods in the US. Until retail stores have products for sale that are not made offshore, there will be no revival of the US Economy or small businesses. One sure remedy to production in the US is to have congress repeal all tariffs they have placed on US manufactured products. Another sure remedy is to have congress bar from sale in the US, any product made offshore that is not made with the same tariffs as imposed on US producers. Some of these US tariffs are: a minimum wage of $7.25/hr, environmental and safety laws, workers comp costs, SS and Medicare co-pays and child labor laws.