Census small biz pulse survey: overall large negative effect from pandemic

65.9% of small businesses experiencing moderate to large negative effects; supply chain still an issue

According to the latest Small Business Pulse Survey by the U.S. Census, 65.9% of small businesses report a moderate to large negative effect as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 43.8% report a moderate negative effect and 22.1% report a large negative effect.

The weekly survey data is based on responses collected from small businesses nationwide. The screen capture of the data above was collected between Nov. 22 and Nov. 28.

The U.S. Census reported that responses between Nov. 15 and Nov. 21 showed employees and an increase in prices small businesses are paying for goods and services in comparison to 2020.

• 9.6% of U.S. Retail Trade small businesses experienced a decrease in the number of paid employees. The national average for this statistic was 10.8%.

• 34.3% of U.S. small businesses experienced a large increase in prices they pay for goods & services compared to what was normal before 3/13/20. For responses collected 10/11/21-10/17/21, this was 30.8%.

• 27.1% of U.S. Manufacturing small businesses improved methods of producing goods or services compared to what was normal before 3/13/2020. The national average was 10.9%.

The Nov.15-21 trends largely continued in the updated data for Nov. 22-28.

The updated data collected by the Pulse Survey for Nov. 22-28 shows 41.8% of small businesses reporting their main future needs are to identify and hire new employees. Of those identifying future needs, 23.4% responded they needed to identify new supply chains.

One of the weekly questions asked in the Pulse Survey is on supplier delays. The largest issue for the Nov. 22-28 period was with domestic supplier delays.

• Domestic supplier delays - 45.8%

• Foreign supplier delays - 20.7%

• Difficulty locating alternative domestic suppliers - 23.2%

• Difficulty locating alternative foreign suppliers - 9.8%

• Production delays at this business - 13.6%

• Delays in delivery/shipping to customers - 25.5%

• None of the above - 47.3%

Workers seem to be back in the office. 76.7% said there was little or no change in the number of hours employees are working now compared to “what was normal before March 13, 2020.”

36% of respondents said it will be more than 6 months before their operations go back to normal and 8.9% said it would take four to six months. Another 11.4% said their business will never go back to normal and 1.4% said their business closed permanently.

On the COVID vaccination front, 74.3% of small businesses in the past week are not requiring employees to give proof of COVID-19 vaccination or show some type of defacto vaccine passport before physically coming to work.

On the other side of the vaccination proof coin, 11.7% reported they were imposing vaccination proof on their employees. This number appears to have gone up and down slightly in the past few months. It was 12.8% for Nov. 15-21 and 11.9% for responses collected 10/11-10/17.

In education, there was a very sharp shift to digital technology. This is unsurprising as the majority of states closed schools and relied only on “remote instruction."

• 55.1% of U.S. Educational Services small businesses have adopted or expanded their use of digital technologies compared to what was normal before 3/13/2020. The national average for this statistic was 26.4%

Links:

View the data

View the survey questions

See also:

U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey (overview)

U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey (Data)