California can and should do more to help reverse a troubling finding
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 15, 2020—Today’s release of a nationwide poll of NFIB-member small-business owners has brought a call from the association’s California state director for the state to do more to help reverse the most troubling finding of the survey: a five percentage point increase in the number of Main Street entrepreneurs who say they’ll close up shop within the next six months if the economy doesn’t improve.
“We realize the big task ahead will have to come from Congress and urge it to pass the Bipartisan Emergency COVID Relief Act of 2020 before it adjourns,” said John Kabateck, California state director for NFIB, the state and nation’s largest small-business advocacy association. “But California can and needs to lend a helping hand, and it can do so, first and most importantly, by re-opening the Main Streets of the state for business. I think there is enough evidence that flare-ups in the number of coronavirus cases are not, for the most and largest part, coming from small businesses, which have been stellar at socially distancing their customers and protecting their employees.”
Specifically, Kabateck referred to the results from one question in today’s poll showing that one-in-four small business owners reported that they will have to close their doors in the next six months if the current economic conditions don’t improve, up 5% from last month. Another 22% of owners anticipate they will be able to operate no longer than 7-12 months under current economic conditions.
In addition to its other national bellwether polls and surveys, such as the monthly Jobs Report and Small Business Economic Trends findings, NFIB started taking a more thorough look this year into its small-business-owning membership and how they were dealing with the coronavirus crisis. Today’s poll is the 14th in the series. Other responses include how employment size has changed and vaccines. The poll is a national snapshot not broken down by state.
“Governor Newsom’s recent announcement offering a 90-day extension on tax returns and tax payments, giving small businesses until the end of July to file their first-quarter return, is helpful,” said Kabateck, “However, I want to underscore that it’s helpful to businesses still in business. We need to resuscitate the small-business economy by allowing it to reopen, now.”
From Holly Wade, executive director of NFIB’s Research Center
“Many small businesses are facing additional challenges right now related to weather conditions and renewed business restrictions across the country. The next few months might prove to be the most difficult time for small businesses since the initial shutdown last spring. It is crucial that Congress provides financial relief for small businesses as we head into the winter months.”
Key findings from the survey include:
- The majority of Paycheck Protection Program borrowers (91%) have spent their entire PPP loan.
- Significantly more borrowers have submitted their PPP loan forgiveness application over the last month – 44% of owners have submitted one, up from 26% last month.
- Almost half of small-business owners who have submitted a PPP loan forgiveness application have received final confirmation from the SBA and over three-fourths of them had 100% of their loan forgiven.
More from NFIB’s national news release available here.
Keep up with the latest on California small business at www.nfib.com/california or by following NFIB on Twitter @NFIB_CA or on Facebook @NFIB.CA.
For more than 75 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses, and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
The National Federation of Independent Business
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