Topics: COVID, Hiring Challenges, Domestic Supplier Delays, Prices Paid for Goods & Services
SMBs in the accommodation/food service, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, and construction industries continue to struggle the most with economic conditions.
COVID-19: About 1 in 10 firms report that in the last week, their business required employees to have proof of vaccination before physically coming to work. And about the same number said that they required employees to test negative for COVID-19 before coming to work. Naturally, health care and social assistance firms were slightly more likely to have these kinds of requirements.
Challenges Hiring Employees. Similar to what we've heard from enterprise-sided companies, SMBs are also struggling to hire employees. Across all types of industries, approximately one-third said that in the last week they've had difficulties hiring paid employees. Accommodation and food service SMBs are struggling the most with nearly two-thirds indicating they had challenges hiring employees in the past week.
Domestic Supplier Delays. Supply-chain disruptions continue. 4 in 10 SMBs report domestic supplier delays in the last week. However, disruptions are hitting specific industries very hard. Nearly 7 in 10 manufacturing SMBs, about 2 in 3 SMBs in construction and retail trade, and 6 in 10 SMBs in accommodation and food service experienced delays in the last week.
Prices Paid for Goods and Services. Compared to how things were pre-pandemic (March 2020), about 7 out of 10 SMBs said they have seen a "moderate" (40%) or "large" (30%) increase in prices their business pays for goods and services. Industries that most often said they saw a "large increase" were Construction (58%), Manufacturing (48%), Wholesale Trade (45%), Accommodation & Food services (41%), and Retail Trade (38%).
Source: US Census, Small Business Pulse Survey, as of 9/2/21
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