By seemingly every measure, the economy is expansion mode, and if you ask the typical small-business owner, she’s finally starting to feel it, a newly released survey suggests.
Forty-five percent of small businesses believe the economy is doing better today than it was as recently as March, according to a recent poll conducted by the National Small Business Association. Furthermore, when asked about how they felt about the future, nearly 85 percent of owner respondents said they were optimistic, with just 36 percent feeling pessimistic. That’s the lowest share of sour sentiment in nearly a decade.
“Household median incomes now top $59,000.”
Much of business owners’ encouragement lies in their wallets. Indeed, last year, the median household income rose to $59,039, according to the Census Bureau. That’s an all-time high, besting 1999, and is the second consecutive year in which household earnings have risen from the previous 12-month period. In 2015, household earnings were slightly over $57,230.
Are businesses hiring?
At the same time, small-business owners recognize there’s plenty of room for improvement. For instance, though the economy is growing, a smaller share of businesses believe the economy will continue to expand come this time in 2018, the NSBA reported from its findings. Additionally, fewer small-business owners added to their ranks over the previous 12 months, with a minority having plans to hire in the coming year.
Todd McCracken, NSBA president, and CEO, indicated that entrepreneur sentiment is a bit of a mixed bag, among the 1,134 small-business owners who responded to the survey.
“For the first half of 2017, we’ve seen record highs in small-business confidence and outlook, McCracken explained. However, our most recent report shows more muted projections in hiring and revenue growth.”
Meanwhile, other polls indicate that businesses are interested in hiring and plan on doing so in the months of 2017 that remain. This is particularly true in the manufacturing sector, with hiring intentions at their highest rate since 2007, according to survey figures from employment agency ManpowerGroup. Of the 43 countries and territories that were included in the poll, more than half – 23 – expect to recruit potential hires in the fourth quarter.
“We are seeing sustained hiring confidence from employers around the world after some years of caution,” noted Jonas Prising, chairman and CEO of ManpowerGroup. “Countries including Spain, Italy, and Greece are back on track, and job prospects across the world are looking up.”
“The hiring process averages around 24 days in the U.S.”
The hiring process may take a while to complete
Still, Prising cautioned that the hiring process may take longer than companies are accustomed to, mainly because they often have very specific talents they’re after, and with more people back on the job, the search for the best match may take some time because fewer people are out of work. On average, businesses in the U.S. devoted approximately 24 days to the recruitment hunt before they find the applicant with the right skill set, according to a recent survey done by job help website Glassdoor. That’s up from 22.9 days, which the previous poll determined was the average length.
An expanding workforce often calls for a larger workspace. The Ohio Regional Loan Program can be just the thing business owners need to grow without accruing serious debt. Fixed asset financing of the Ohio 166 Regional Loan Program can be put toward the cost of land acquisition, building improvements, add-ons, and renovations, among other uses.