{"id":2030245,"date":"2023-09-13T08:23:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T12:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/small-business-optimism-falls-as-inflation-persists-and-companies-struggle-to-find-new-workers\/"},"modified":"2023-09-13T08:28:36","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T12:28:36","slug":"small-business-optimism-falls-as-inflation-persists-and-companies-struggle-to-find-new-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/small-business-optimism-falls-as-inflation-persists-and-companies-struggle-to-find-new-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Small business optimism declines due to persistent inflation and labor shortage."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsmall-business-optimism-falls-as-inflation-persists-and-companies-struggle-to-find-new-workers%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2030245&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div data-post-content=\"true\" class=\"post_content\" id=\"post_content\">\n<p>Small \u2062business optimism took \u200da hit in August, according to \u2062a recent\u2064 study, as\u200b American companies faced challenges\u2063 in hiring new workers amidst \u2062persistent inflation.<\/p>\n<p>The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), which surveyed over \u200c600 small businesses, reported a\u200b decline in \u2062optimism for August, following three consecutive months of rising sentiment.<\/p>\n<p>Despite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-economy-in-uncharted-waters-fed-staff-warn\/\" title=\"Fed staff warns that the US economy is in uncharted waters.\">higher\u2063 interest rates<\/a> \u200cand a struggling \u2063real estate market, the U.S. economy continued to grow last month.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode\">\n<div class=\"border-comp-divider mb-4 mr-4 w-full max-w-[500px] border px-5 py-4 text-[16px] leading-[20px] text-[#262626] md:float-left\" id=\"in_article_related_stories\">\n<div class=\"mb-3 font-sans text-[16px] font-semibold uppercase leading-[19px] text-[#2F2F2F]\">Related Stories<\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\">\n            <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/opinion\/small-businesses-flee-the-heavy-hand-of-the-state-5481562\">Small Business\u2064 Flees\u2063 the Heavy Hand\u2064 of the State<\/a>\n          <\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">8\/27\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\">\n          <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/opinion\/small-businesses-flee-the-heavy-hand-of-the-state-5481562\"><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\">\n            <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/world\/warning-to-small-business-over-turning-to-credit-cards-5462987\">Warning to Small Business Over\u2064 Turning to Credit Cards<\/a>\n          <\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">8\/13\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\">\n          <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/world\/warning-to-small-business-over-turning-to-credit-cards-5462987\"><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Overall inflation has slowed\u2064 over the past \u200byear,\u200c as the Federal Reserve aggressively raised \u2063interest rates to their highest level in 22 years.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>    Although consumer prices slightly rose from July, many business owners are increasingly\u2062 worried about\u200d future price conditions, despite\u2063 solid consumer spending.<br \/>\n    \u2064<\/p>\n<h2>Businesses Lose Confidence as Summer Spending\u200c Ends<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>According to\u200b the NFIB&#8217;s \u200cSmall Business Optimism Index for August, \u2062there was a\u200c 0.6 percent drop\u2063 to \u200b91.3, \u200bmarking \u200dthe 20th \u200dconsecutive month below the\u200d 49-year average of 98.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;With small business owners&#8217; views about\u2062 future sales growth\u200b and business \u200bconditions discouraging, owners want\u2062 to \u200dhire \u200dand make money \u200bnow from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/small-business-owners-increasingly-pessimistic-about-the-economy\/\" title=\"Small Business Owners Increasingly Pessimistic About the Economy\">strong consumer spending<\/a>,&#8221; wrote NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Inflation and the worker\u2063 shortage continue to\u200b be the biggest\u200c obstacles for\u200d Main Street.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Expectations of \u2062improved \u2063business \u2063conditions over the next six months fell seven\u200c points in August to a \u200dnet negative 37 percent, an improvement from \u200clast June&#8217;s negative 61 \u200cpercent, but still at recession levels.<\/p>\n<p>The percentage of owners\u2064 who expected\u200c sales to rise decreased \u200dtwo points from the\u200d previous month, to a net negative \u200d14 percent,\u2063 a\u2062 three-year low.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-three \u2063percent of small \u2063business owners \u2063reported inflation as their\u2063 single most important \u200bproblem in \u200bAugust, a rise of 2 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Owing to tighter loan requirements, the percentage of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/small-business-optimism-falls-as-inflation-persists-and-companies-struggle-to-find-new-workers\/\" title=\"Small business optimism declines due to persistent inflation and labor shortage.\">firms\u2064 planning\u200d capital outlays fell<\/a> to a four-month low, but most\u2063 small-business\u200d owners \u2063said that \u2064all of their\u2063 credit needs \u2062were met.<\/p>\n<p>Businesses that raised their\u200b average selling prices in August rose by 2 \u2063percent to an annual seasonally adjusted 27 percent.<\/p>\n<p>About 40 \u2064percent of \u200bsmall business owners \u2064told surveyors that they had difficulty filling positions\u2062 last month,\u200b a slight decline from July\u2064 and a historic high.<\/p>\n<p>Although fewer firms said they would boost compensation in \u2063August, \u206226 percent said they planned to raise compensation in the next three months.<\/p>\n<p>The construction, service, and manufacturing sectors\u2064 reported the greatest\u200d difficulty filling open \u200dpositions, according to the survey.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>    It \u2062comes after the Labor Department\u2064 reported new job openings\u2064 falling below 9 million in July for the first time since March 2021.<\/p>\n<h2>US Households Expected \u2063to Face\u200b Challenges This Fall<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Many U.S. households \u200care\u200d facing \u200dchallenges toward the end of the year, including the resumption\u200b of \u2062student\u2064 loan \u200bpayments, falling cash savings, a tighter credit market, \u2063and fears of another round\u200c of Fed rate hikes.<\/p>\n<p>American consumer spending \u2064jumped 0.8 percent in\u2064 July,\u2063 led by the\u2063 entertainment \u2063and travel \u2062sectors, which saw a\u200c summer boost,\u200b while\u200d retail \u2063sales slightly\u200c increased by 0.7\u2063 percent.<\/p>\n<p>However, as the summer winds down, the hospitality industry is bracing for a slowdown.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>to face challenges in August as small business optimism declined, according to a recent study by the NFIB. The struggle to hire new workers and persistent inflation were cited as key factors. This decline comes after three months of increasing sentiment, highlighting ongoing obstacles for the American economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":327,"featured_media":2030246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2030245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2030245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/327"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2030245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2030245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2030246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2030245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2030245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2030245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}