C-Suite Wednesday – 93% of Small Business Owners are Worried About a Recession Finds Goldman Sachs

July 20, 2022

Delaney Sexton
Contributing Editor

C-Suite Wednesday – 93% of Small Business Owners are Worried About a Recession Finds Goldman Sachs

As fear of an impending recession rises, small businesses are still confronting inflationary pressures, supply chain disruptions, and workforce challenges. Regardless of economic troubles, a recent Goldman Sachs survey expresses small business owners’ resilience with 65% of those owners remaining positive about the future of their business.

Here’s what Goldman Sachs found:

• Two-thirds of small business owners surveyed are optimistic about the financial trajectory of their business this year despite 78% of owners saying the economy has gotten worse in the last three months.
• 19% of small business owners believe the U.S. is heading in the right direction, and 61% believe we are on the “wrong track”.
• 93% of small business owners are worried about the U.S. economy experiencing a recession in the next year.
• About two-thirds of small business owners surveyed reported increasing the prices of their goods/services to offset the impact of economic trends such as inflation, supply chain issues, and workforce challenges.
• Just over half of those small businesses raised their prices by less than 10%.
• 80% say that higher gas prices are negatively affecting their business.

• When asked what the most significant problem facing small businesses is, 45% said that difficulty finding and retaining qualified employees was the most significant issue. 32% answered with inflation, and 13% answered with supply chain issues.
• 41% of small business owners stated that hiring challenges have gotten worse when compared to three months ago while 43% say that the hiring challenges are the same as three months ago.
• Nearly all the small businesses having difficulty hiring (97%) said that the struggle to hire employees is impacting their bottom line.

• 80% of small business owners report that inflationary pressures on their business have increased.
• Three-quarters of owners say their business’ financial health was negatively impacted by inflation over the last six months.
• 38% of small businesses have seen a decline in customer demand due to inflationary price increases on goods and services.
• 78% of small business owners say supply chain issues have gotten worse or stayed the same compared to three months ago.

Source:
Goldman Sachs Survey