"Small-business owners are feeling less-confidant in nearly every way, particularly with banks' ability to keep their money safe," stated NSBA President Todd McCracken. "Decreasing home values, a tight credit market and failing financial institutions have led to 67 percent of small-business owners who believe that the U.S. economy is worse off today than it was five years ago."
Included in the report, 68 percent of small-business owners report that FDIC insurance is not adequate enough to insure their business accounts, and nearly two-thirds have already or are considering taking action such as spreading deposits across multiple institutions to reduce their financial risk.
The significant role small business plays in job creation—responsible for 93.5 percent of net new jobs since 1989-is also addressed in the report. While net new job growth in the past 12 months has remained relatively stagnant according to both the February 2008 survey and the August 2008 report, there was a 15-point spread between those projecting job growth and those projecting job eliminations in the coming 12 months.
"Despite the relatively bleak outlook for the U.S. economy as a whole, 75 percent of small-business owners today are confident about the future of their own business," stated David Ickert, NSBA Economic Development Committee chair and owner of Air Tractor, Inc. a small manufacturing company in Olney, Texas. "Although that's certainly positive, we cannot afford to ignore the fact that one-fourth of small-business owners are not confident about the future of their business."
