Inflation hurting small business: survey

DES MOINES — More than nine out of 10 U.S. small business owners say inflation, supply chain issues and worker shortages are having a negative effect on their businesses, according to a national survey published Monday by Goldman Sachs.

According to the survey, 91 percent of small business owners said those economic trends are hurting their businesses. Seventy-three percent said increasing energy costs also are hurting their bottom lines.

The survey report did not include state-level responses.

“Small business owners are stuck between a rock and a hard place as inflation and an uneven economic recovery are impacting every part of our businesses with no end in sight,” Tom Rauen, owner of Envision Tees and Dimensional Brewing in Dubuque, said in a news release.

“Small business owners need policymakers to understand that while most businesses have fully reopened since the pandemic, the road to a full recovery will be long — with new challenges around every corner.”

According to the survey, nearly nine out of 10 small business owners believe the post-pandemic economic recovery has gone better for large business. Eighty-eight percent said small businesses are struggling relative to larger companies in their local communities, the survey said.

For the report, Babson College and David Binder Research surveyed 1,107 small business owners from Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses Voices initiative, which advocates for policies designed to help small businesses.

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