New Survey Shows New York Small Business Economic Sentiment in Unprecedented Geographic Detail

SAN FRANCISCO, CA --"Thumbtack.com will be releasing [this week] the Thumbtack Small Business Sentiment Survey, a first-of-its-kind survey that captures the economic sentiment of more than 10,000 small businesses nationwide on a monthly basis, including 768 responses over two years in New York. Starting this week, and released on a monthly basis going forward, the survey and accompanying visualization allow anyone to explore American small business economic sentiment at the national and local level. Designed with Bloomberg, all data will be housed and integrated seamlessly into the economic functions of the Bloomberg Professional service.

"The full results for New York can be seen here and include how businesses in each area responded to survey questions, and hundreds of quotes from small businesses nationwide. Each state and city also has its own dedicated webpage showing detailed survey results for that area.

"This new survey provides a first-of-its-kind, monthly look at the economic sentiment of tens of thousands of small business owners across the country, including 5,404 responses collected over two years in New York. The first publicly released data for this survey show that New York's small businesses reported a 4.5 point jump (out of 100) in their feelings about the economy over the past 12 months."

You can read the methodology paper here.

For more information about the survey or the methodology, please email Thumbtack’s Chief Economist Jon Lieber at jon.lieber@thumbtack.com.

Income and Net Worth of Veteran Business Owners over the Business Cycle, 1989–2010

This month, the Office of Advocacy is releasing a new research report, Income and Net Worth of Veteran Business Owners over the Business Cycle, 1989–2010. The report looks at the effects of two decades of economic expansion and recession on the economic fortunes of veterans and veteran small business owners. It finds that veteran small business owners did better than veterans who did not own small businesses during the 20-year-period. The economic extremes of the period 1989-2010—including the end of the longest U.S. economic expansion and the Great Recession—had similar effects on all business owners—veteran and non-veteran alike.

The report and research summary are available on Advocacy’s webpage.

2012 Small Business Profiles for States and Territories

The Office of Advocacy’s Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories supply data on small businesses in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia... The usefulness of the publication is the great detail it provides about small businesses at the state level. The following topics are covered: the number of firms, demographics of business ownership, small business income, banking, business turnover, industry composition, and employment gains and losses by size of business.

Frequently Asked Questions about Small Business

Advocacy’s most requested publication, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business, gathers dozens of the latest statistics about America’s small business in one place. The FAQ is updated annually, and it’s a convenient place to confirm facts like the total number of small businesses, their share of employment and net new jobs, plus starts, closures, and overall contribution to the U.S. economy.

Health Insurance in Small Firms: Availability, Coverage, and the Effect of Tax Incentives

A new study by the Office of Advocacy investigates health care coverage provided by small firms and the effects of state and federal tax incentives on health insurance availability. States have tried a variety of approaches to improve health plan coverage, particularly health insurance offered by small businesses. The study finds that most existing state tax incentive programs apply to a narrow class of employers. The increase in the federal self-employed health insurance tax deduction in 2003 did create an incentive for some self-employed individuals to purchase health insurance. In 2007, it was estimated that small employers deducted approximately $53.8 billion for health insurance benefits.

The research summary can be found HERE [PDF].

Should you need further information, please feel free to contact Joe Sobota at (202) 205-6533 or advocacy@sba.gov.

Does the Bankruptcy Code Provide a Fresh Start To Entrepreneurs?

The U. S. bankruptcy system is designed to recover funds for creditors while giving bankrupt small businesses an opportunity for a “fresh start.” While a fresh start is a goal of the system, little analysis has been done to evaluate the ability of small firms to reset and thrive after bankruptcy. This paper attempts to fill that gap. The research finds that 2.6 percent of firms filed for bankruptcy within the previous seven years, that they are comparable to other firms in terms of cash flow and firm size, and that they have a 24 percent higher likelihood of being denied a loan and are charged interest rates that are 1 percent higher than those charged other firms.

The research summary can be found HERE.

Should you need further information, please feel free to contact Brian Headd at (202) 205-6533 or advocacy@sba.gov.

The State of Small Business

The 2010 edition of The Small Business Economy documents the 2008 recession’s effects on small business as well as the changing economy at the end of 2009. In 2009, after weathering a deep recession that began in late 2007, the American economy began to stabilize. For small businesses, one of the biggest remaining challenges was the lack of sales adequate to grow employment. Many economic indicators began to show improvement by year’s end.

For example, in the first three quarters of 2009, small businesses accounted for almost 60 percent of the net job losses, with the greatest losses in the first quarter. By the third quarter, net small firm job losses were one-third what they had been in the first quarter. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and other policy actions added between 1.5 percent and 3.5 percent to real gross domestic product in fourth quarter 2009 and projected an employment increase of 1.0 million to 2.1 million more than it would have been without the stimulus. In the first half of 2009, as the economy continued to experience the challenges that began in the last two quarters of 2008, credit markets were constrained by both demand and supply factors. In the midst of a challenging year for small business owners, there was reason for optimism as commercial bank profitability improved and nominal interest rates remained low.

The research summary can be found HERE.

Eurostat Regional Yearbook 2009

Source: Eurostat

Through graphics and text, the Eurostat regional yearbook 2009 paints a statistical portrait of life in the regions of the European Union’s member states, candidate countries and the EFTA countries. Its 13 chapters are written by specialists and presented in a language accessible to all. The book gives an ideal opportunity to assess the progress made so far in regional policy programmes recently launched as part of the EU’s new cohesion policy. The latest results from the Urban Audit provide a snapshot of city life across the regions.

The Small Business Economy: A Report to the President 2008

The 2008 edition of The Small Business Economy documents the small business role in the economy of 2007 and includes chapters focusing on financing, procurement, international trade, small business training and development, tax policy, business creation, and regulation.

A copy of the report is located here and the research summary can be found here.

Should you need further information, please feel free to contact Chad Moutray at (202) 205-6533 or advocacy@sba.gov.

Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories

The latest edition of the Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories is now available. This new edition improves on previous years by providing more information in an easier-to-use format. A copy of the state profiles can be found here.

The profiles contain great detail about small businesses at the state level. They cover the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the United States, and also provide limited data on the U.S. territories. The profiles show that small businesses are a significant part of every state economy, and they are important employers in every state. Small businesses employ 44% of the workforce in Florida (the low end of the range), and they employ 69.8% of Montana’s workforce (the high end); New York's number is 51.7%.

Small Business Survival Index

According to this 13th annual study, the most entrepreneur-friendly state is South Dakota. How does New York rank? Not that well.

"The 44-page Business Survival Index from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council ranks the policy environment for entrepreneurship throughout the United States. So what does that mean?

"The Index ranks the 50 states and the District of Columbia from friendliest to least friendly environment for entrepreneurs. The ranking is based on multiple criteria, including personal income tax rates, corporate income tax rates, property taxes, electric utility costs, crime rates, highway cost effectiveness, and more."

Health Insurance Coverage for Small Businesses

As we'ver seen, the health insurance crisis isn't just for those 47 million Americans who don't have health insurance, it's for the 250 million that do. Many are offered - or not - by small business.

The Rockefeller Institute of Government’s Health Policy Research Center has issued a series of reports on private insurance coverage for small businesses. The reports, which were funded by the New York State Health Foundation, include a paper titled "From Access to Affordability," which is a nationwide scan of the various strategies states are using to try to address the growing problem of health insurance coverage for small businesses. In addition to the 50-state research, there are also three in-depth case studies on the strategies being used by Maine, Minnesota, and New Jersey and a comprehensive report that combines what was learned from the state scan and field research. For copies of the reports, please visit www.rockinst.org. Read the press release.