Business Resource Center

Courthouse News (9/10) reported on President Biden’s new COVID-19 mandate for companies with more than 100 employees to have their employees vaccinated or tested weekly. NFIB Vice President for Federal Government Relations Kevin Kuhlman “said the new rule would impact many small businesses.”

The Washington Post (9/10, A1) reported that “several larger industry groups said they welcomed the move, in part because it gave some companies more cover for corporate vaccine mandates already in the works,” but “the sentiment was not universal.” Kuhlman was quoted saying, “Small business owners and their employees want to operate in a safe and healthy manner that allows them to stay open. Additional mandates, enforcement, and penalties will further threaten the fragile small business recovery.”

The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for August increased to 100.1, while the Uncertainty index decreased to the lowest level since January 2016. The proportion of small business owners expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months decreased by eight points, continuing a two-month decline of 16 points to its lowest level since January 2013. NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg was quoted saying, “As the economy moves into the fourth quarter, small business owners are losing confidence in the strength of future business conditions. ... The biggest problems facing small employers right now is finding enough labor to meet their demand and for many, managing supply chain disruptions.”

Marketplace (8/31,Schwab)reported somePPP borrowers, especially from large lenders not participating in the PPP forgiveness portal, are experiencing difficulties getting their loans forgiven. Marketplace states, according to the SBA, “6% of borrowers who have applied for forgiveness have been told they must pay back some portion of their loans” while still “half of borrowers have yet to finish the forgiveness process.” Marketplace said the “SBA admits the program’s initial rollout wasn’t perfect.” For example, Marketplace noted, “Since the start of the PPP, the Small Business Administration’s calculation guide has been updated three times. Its first draw application form has been updated nine.” SBA Associate Administrator for the Office of Capital Access Patrick Kelley said on the issues, “It felt, I imagine, for borrowers that there was a bait and switch underway, where the promise was forgiveness. But the practical reality of the agency’s rules regarding forgiveness were incredibly complex and scary.” Kelley also “said if borrowers filled out forms wrong or used the money outside the forgiveness guidelines, ‘ultimately the borrower is a debtor.’”

Reuters (9/2) reported the NFIB said Thursday that “half of U.S. small-business owners reported unfilled job openings in August as finding qualified workers remains an ongoing challenge.” The group “said in its monthly jobs report that 50% of small business owners reported unfilled job openings in August on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 49% in July. August’s reading is 28 percentage points higher than the 48-year average of 22%.” In addition, the report “showed that 91% of owners reported few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill last month.”

US News & World Report (9/3, Smart) quoted NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg: “Small employers are struggling to fill open positions and find qualified workers resulting in record high levels of owners raising compensation. ... Owners are raising compensation in an attempt to attract workers and these costs are being passed on to consumers through price hikes for goods and services, creating inflation pressures.”

The Wall Street Journal (7/29, Cambon, Subscription Publication) reported that the US gross domestic product grew at a 6.5 percent annual rate in the 2nd quarter, raising the size of the economy to its pre-pandemic level, according to data released by the Department of Commerce on Thursday. The GDP had grown at a 6.3 percent annual rate in the 1st quarter.
The Washington Post (7/29, Siegel, Van Dam) reported that the economy “was officially back and fully recovered from the coronavirus pandemic as of June, although a recent surge in cases could bring new uncertainty.” However, “that doesn’t mean the economy is back to the level it would have been at had the pandemic not happened, because about a year of continued economic growth is missing.” The AP (7/29, Crutsinger) said the economy is “showing sustained strength.”

The AP (9/8, Wiseman) said the Labor Department reported Wednesday that “U.S. employers posted a record job openings for the second consecutive month in July – more affirmation that the labor market is bouncing back from last year’s coronavirus recession. Job openings rose to 10.9 million in July, up from the previous record of 10.2 million in June.” However, DOL’s “Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report showed that actual hiring dipped slightly to 6.7 million in July, from 6.8 million in June. Layoffs rose slightly to 1.3 million.”

Bloomberg (9/1, Pickert) reported that in August, US employers “added fewer jobs than expected...reflecting persistent hiring challenges and suggesting a slowdown in the labor market recovery.” ADP Research Institute data released Wednesday shows “businesses’ payrolls increased by 374,000 last month, after a revised 326,000 gain in July,” which “fell short of all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists.” According to Bloomberg, “The weaker-than-expected hiring gain suggests firms are still struggling to attract applicants and fill a record number of vacant positions.”

A Washington Post (9/1) analysis said that a few months ago, “it seemed that September could be a turning point for a return to normal in the United States. Instead, it has become a renewed period of anxiety.” The Post described the situation as the “I don’t know” economy in which “business leaders don’t know when supply chains and shipping bottlenecks will subside,” parents “don’t know if school or child care will be disrupted again,” and “many workers don’t know if they will go back to the office in the coming weeks.” But, while “stress and uncertainty are starting to hurt the economic recovery,” policymakers are “optimistic. The White House released an updated forecast Friday predicting 7.1 percent growth for the year,” and Federal Reserve Chair Powell “said Friday he believed the U.S. economy was on a path to ‘high levels of employment and participation, broadly shared wage gains and inflation running close to our price stability goal.’”

CNBC (7/30, Cox) reported on its website that the Commerce Department revealed on Friday that “an inflation indicator that the Federal Reserve uses as its key guide rose 3.5% in June, a sharp acceleration that was nonetheless right around Wall Street expectations.” CNBC said “the personal consumption expenditures price index, which excludes food and energy, was expected to increase 3.6% at a time when the U.S. economy has seen its highest inflation pressures in more than a decade.” According to CNBC, “That gain was slightly ahead of the 3.4% May increase and represents the biggest move since July 1991.”

Reuters (7/30, Caspani, McKay, O'Brien, Reid) reported that US commuters are feeling uneasy as the Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads as corporations force workers to return to the workplace. The article noted that earlier this year, the pandemic “ebbed as vaccines became widely available and states loosened most restrictions.” This is being rethought, however, as the delta variant spreads in the US. The White House announced last Thursday that government workers will have to show proof of vaccination or wear masks, practice social distancing, and receive regular tests.

Forbes (9/10, Arora) senior contributor Rohit Arora wrote the SBA has announced the National Small Business Week Virtual Summit for September 13-15. On the summit, SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman said, “Over the last 16 months, we have seen the incredible determination and ingenuity of small businesses across the nation. During National Small Business Week, we will honor and celebrate their impact on our economy and strengthening of communities as we look towards recovery.” Arora also provided information on the summit and some of the stories of small business owners that will be shared during the event.

People (9/9, Goldstein) highlighted Sook, a browser extension that is “designed to let online shoppers browse and buy from small businesses in their community.” Shoppers can “search for items directly on Sook, or browse on larger retailers’ sites and receive a Sook alert when similar products to the ones they’re viewing are available in their communities.” The extension has helped small business owners “stay afloat amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.” The extension is “completely free to download and also free for businesses to advertise on thanks to paid advertising spotlights.”

Marketing Dive (9/2, Williams) reported that as Snapchat expands its reach, the platform in August unveiled Snapchat Trends, “helping marketers seeking insights into topics that spur the most visible discussions among younger consumers.” While “Snapchat’s social listening tool somewhat resembles Google Trends,” Snapchat’s tool provides a greater level of transparency. Jasmine Enberg, an eMarketer senior analyst at Insider Intelligence, explained, “[Snapchat Trends] can help marketers to gauge consumer sentiment around a brand, product or campaign. ... It can also help with competitive intelligence, giving brands insight into how their competitors are faring and how their product offering might fit into a market. That can help inform marketing strategy.”

Odermark/Nextbite co-founder and CEO and fourth-generation restaurant operator Alex Canter writes a column for QSR Magazine (9/2, Canter) on how digital-only restaurants can approach branding to be successful. He writes that digital-only restaurants need to take branding “up a notch and capitalize on the unique opportunities the new e-commerce-driven restaurant world presents – and then just let loose.” These restaurant operators “with digital-only delivery menus” need to “recognize we’re in the Wild West right now – it’s all new territory, so don’t be afraid to keep experimenting and adjusting. The best marketing guidance is to be agile, be open to change, be authentic, and tell your story.”

PYMNTS (7/27) interviewed Square Banking Head of Product Christina Riechers on how the company’s “latest suite of financial products for small businesses, Square Banking, can fill a ‘gap’ in business banking that has bedeviled smaller firms for a long time – and levels the playing field with their larger brethren a bit, in terms of cash flow management.” The platform’s “Checking, Savings and Loan products unveiled earlier this month are directly connected to payments themselves, ‘and that makes it easier, and in some cases, an automated way for a seller to manage their business finances,’” said Riechers.

CNBC (9/2, Franck) reported that first-time claims for jobless benefits fell 14,000 last week to 340,000, “their lowest levels since March 2020 in another sign that the labor market is gradually improving from the Covid-19 era, the Labor Department reported Thursday.” The “level of continuing claims, the measure of ongoing benefits, was 2.75 million, a decrease of 160,000 from the previous week’s revised level.” Reuters (9/2, Mutikani) reported, “Declining layoffs should help to ease concerns about the economy even if August’s closely watched employment report on Friday shows a slowdown in nonfarm payrolls growth.”

The New York Times (9/2, Casselman) said, “Unemployment benefits have helped stave off financial ruin for millions of laid-off workers over the last year and a half,” but “after this week, that lifeline will snap: An estimated 7.5 million people will lose their benefits when federally funded emergency unemployment programs end. Millions more will see their checks cut by $300 a week.” The Times said President Biden has “encouraged states with high unemployment rates to use existing federal funds to extend benefits, but few appear likely to do so. And administration officials have said repeatedly that they will not seek a congressional extension of the benefits.”

Politico (9/2, Cassella) said a surge in COVID cases “is weighing on the economy, dragging down employment growth in key areas and shaking consumer confidence just as millions of Americans are about to lose federal jobless benefits.” Politico said Biden “has staked his administration’s success on returning the economy to its pre-pandemic strength,” and “a weak jobs outlook could further erode his standing with the public.”

The AP (7/27, Rugaber) reported more businesses, particularly in the retail, restaurant, and travel industries, have started offering $15 hourly wages in an effort to attract the new workers they need, although many workers continue to earn a lower hourly wage. The AP said, “Many employers are having to pay more to keep up with larger companies, including Amazon, Costco and Target, that have announced their own pay raises to $15 or more.” Princeton University economist Ellora Derenon court “found that companies in local markets that compete with Amazon, Target or Walmart generally responded by matching their wage hikes dollar-for-dollar.”

The AP (7/29, Wiseman) reported the number of Americans filing for first-time jobless benefits fell 24,000 to 400,000 last week, “another sign that the job market continues to recover rapidly from the coronavirus recession.” The Wall Street Journal (7/29, Mena, Subscription Publication) reported that economists they surveyed expected claims to come in at 380,000. Bloomberg (7/29, Forte) reported the data signals “that the labor market continues to improve even as the delta variant of Covid-19 rages amid sustained vaccine hesitancy.”

CNBC (7/22, Iacurci) reported that states repealing pandemic-era programs is not speeding up job recovery, according to a new analysis. Census Bureau data suggest that despite the withdrawal of the unemployment benefits, “recipients didn’t rush to find jobs,” according to University of Massachusetts Amherst economics professor Arindrajit Dube. Dube adds that there “wasn’t a corresponding increase in employment among this group,” rather the number of adults with jobs fell by 1.4% during the same period. He does note that more information and time is needed to analyze the long-term impact of state policies.