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April 2, 2020

Survey quantifies small-business fears

IMAGE | Pixabay.com
By Michael C. Bingham

A vast majority — some 87 percent — of small-business owners say their companies are hurting from the COVID-19 pandemic. So says the personal-finance website WalletHub, which released a “Coronavirus Small Business Survey” on Wednesday.

The survey illustrates some of the ways in which the global pandemic has impacted business owners’ livelihoods, as well as their opinions on such key issues as reopening the economy.

“More than 87 percent of small-business owners say their businesses are hurting due to the coronavirus pandemic,” said WalletHub CEO Odysseas Papadimitriou in announcing the survey results. “There are a few clear reasons for this.

“For one thing, hardly any business is unaffected,” he said. “Most businesses are going to zero revenue, and most businesses can’t survive long without any cash flow. Like most consumers, most businesses have too little saved and too much debt to hunker down and ride out this type of shock to the system without outside intervention.”

Some highlights (or lowlights) of the report:  

  • Business owners fear failure: 35 percent of small-business survey respondents say their company can survive for less than three months in current conditions.
  • Your money or your mortality?: 79 percent of company principals think that minimizing COVID-19 deaths is more important than re-opening the economy.
  • Business owners don’t want more restrictions: 60 percent of respondents said they thought restrictions imposed in response to COVID-19 should stay the same or be relaxed.
  • I’m from the government, and I’m not here to help: 68 percent of small-business owners think that the government is not doing enough to help small companies right now.

Except for sole proprietorships, almost all small-business owners are also employers. And most are struggling with how to take care of workers with dramatically reduced revenue streams as a result of the economic shutdown.

“Most workers should be worried about their job security right now,” said Papadimitriou. “One-third of small business owners say they have laid off employees due to COVID-19, and a slightly higher share – 36 percent – plan to do so.”

“Everyone should make a plan for what to do in the event they lose their income, just in case,” he added. “This whole event should really hammer home the importance of having an emergency fund.”

The complete survey results can be found HERE.  

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