According to two recent surveys conducted by Citibank and Discover Financial Services, on small businesses, the small business owners are not confident about the U.S economy. According to Citibank survey on small business owners, 86% were fearing double-dip recession.
The survey states that, 83% of the small businesses have postponed their hiring plans, with 7% planning to reduce their human resources and 76% planning to keep the same number of employees for the next 12 months. In addition to the above data, small business owners stated the following factors as hiring drivers:
- Nine in 10 say they would need to see sales increase for at least two quarters in a row before hiring new employees.
- More certainty that economy is recovering (53 percent)
- A reduction in payroll taxes (41 percent).
Another survey conducted in August by, Discover Financial Services, echoed the same sentiments. It states, the people who believe that economy is deteriorating has increased from 58% in July to 62% in August. The owners who think that they will face tougher economic conditions in coming months increased by 10 points, making it to 55%. The % of people experiencing problems in cash flows have increased to 53% from 47% in July.
On the job front, for the next few months, 78% of small business owners have no plans of hiring, 72% had no plans to subtract or add employees, 20% were planning to layoff the employees, only 6% planning to hire the employees.