Nearly half the small business owners think the economy is worse off today than it was a year ago, As per survey by National Small Business Association, 50% of Small Businesses think the present situation of economy to be worse.
For the coming year, 59 percent expect overall U.S. economy to be flat, and 29 percent expect a recession.
On asking about the biggest challenges faced by business, more than 70 percent think economic uncertainity as most critical challenge to the growth and survival of their businesses.
On asking about their hiring plans, 11 percent recruited new employees in the last 12 months and 25 percent cut the existing jobs.
On asking about their access to finance, 59% (down from 78% in August 2008), of small business owners were successful in getting adequate finances. Lack of capital was found to be reason for expanding and increasing inventories, reducing he number of workers, by small business owners.
The above various findings, tells us that small businesses are struggling very hard to cope up with the economic downturn.