As inflation continues to impact consumers adversely, with the retail price of a wide swath of products having risen sharply in the past year, it’s not only shoppers who are feeling the pocketbook pain.
Small business owners are also being impacted as they struggle to compete with the lower prices of big box retailers, and a new report from the National Federation of Independent Businesses shows confidence at a nearly 50-year low.
According to the report, inflation is listed as the biggest problem facing small business owners by more than a third of respondents (34%).
The NFIB’s Small Business Optimism Index also fell 3.6 points last month. At 89.5, the index is at its lowest mark in over nine years.
Meanwhile, 50% of respondents said they have job openings they are unable to fill, both in skilled and unskilled labor.
“The persistence of record high levels of unfilled openings indicates that owners are still seeing opportunities to grow their business, in spite of their negative outlook for the future,” said NFIB chief economist William Dunkelberg in a statement.
Small businesses are also still facing supply challenges, with the report noting that “a significant amount of what they want sits frustratingly just off the coasts or in containers waiting for transport.”
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