A rise in one of America’s leading economic barometers released Tuesday is not a cause for celebration, just yet, said two officials with the association that conducted the poll, and that’s especially so here in Oregon.
As it does very month, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), America’s largest and oldest small-business association, releases its Index of Small Business Optimism, which measures the pulse of the nation’s largest employer group—Main Street entrepreneurs.
“Although it’s encouraging that there is a 2.3-point uptick in May’s SBET, the fact that there was a decline in actual and prospective job creation reflects the landscape in Oregon,” said Jan Meekcoms, Oregon state director for NFIB, America’s largest and oldest small-business association. “Oregon’s May employment report showed an increase in manufacturing jobs, but a decline in small-business employment. Sadly, we have not seen legislation this session to help turn this around. Instead we have passed more regulations on small businesses, along with a continued discussion of tax increases and more small-business burdens in the form of paid sick leave and a state-run retirement system imposed upon the private sector. Every day I hear members mention the plague of uncertainty.”
Added William Dunkelberg, NFIB’s chief economist in a national news release: “Small-business confidence rising is always a good thing, but it’s tough to be excited by meager growth in an otherwise tepid economy. Washington remains in a state of policy paralysis, and while the stock market sets records, GDP posts mediocre growth. The unemployment rate remains in the mid-7s and it is departures from the labor force—not job creation—that is contributing to its decline when it does fall. It’s nice to see confidence not shrinking, but there isn’t much to hang your hat on in this report. We are back to where we were in May 2012. Two good months don’t make a trend, but we can’t have a trend without them, so it’s a start.”
The NFIB Research Foundation has collected Small Business Economic Trends data with quarterly surveys since 1974 and monthly surveys since 1986. Survey respondents are drawn from NFIB’s membership. The report is released on the second Tuesday of each month. For almost 40 years, NFIB’s Index of Small Business Optimism has been one of the nation’s bellwether economic barometers, used by Federal Reserve chairmen, Congress, and presidential administrations. Small business is no small matter, because Main Street enterprises employ the majority of working Americans and generate most new jobs—not big businesses, and certainly not big governments or labor unions.
Commemorating its 70th anniversary, the National Federation of Independent Business is the nation’s leading small-business association, with offices in Washington, D.C., and all 50 state capitals. Founded in 1943 as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, NFIB gives small- and independent-business owners a voice in shaping the public policy issues that affect their business. NFIB’s powerful network of grassroots activists sends its views directly to state and federal lawmakers through our unique member-only ballot, thus playing a critical role in supporting America’s free enterprise system. NFIB’s mission is to promote and protect the right of our members to own, operate and grow their businesses. More information about NFIB is available at www.NFIB.com/newsroom.
