Despite higher interest rates and record inflation, small businesses are staying strong in the U.S.
According to Jessica Johnson-Cope, Johnson Security Bureau president and chair of 10,000 Small Businesses Voices, they're also ripe with job opportunities, especially given the interest that job applicants have shown.
“I will say that in the past month or so, we’ve seen an increase of people coming to apply for jobs," Johnson-Cope told Yahoo Finance. "So I think there’s a tremendous opportunity to bring people into the fold from not just my business, but other small businesses, especially when we look at what some of the larger corporations are doing."
Although the U.S. economy added 372,000 new jobs in the month of June and the unemployment rate has remained at 3.6%, nearly half of small businesses are still struggling with filling job openings, according to a survey from the National Federation of Independent Businesses.
At the same time, larger companies are pulling back on hiring in anticipation of an economic recession, which could give small businesses the opening they need.
Goldman Sachs (GS) and BlackRock (BLK) both announced that they would slow hiring. Tech companies like Apple (AAPL), Meta (META), Twitter (TWTR), and Google (GOOGL) have paused hiring, rescinded job offers, and even laid off employees.
Johnson-Cope is confident that small businesses can overcome the macroeconomic headwinds all companies are facing, including inflation, supply chain disruptions, and recessionary fears.
A survey from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America found that 41.3% of small businesses were temporarily closed due to Covid-19. Yet, only 1.8% of small businesses permanently shut down.
“I’m glad to say that the folks that are gathered here for the 10,000 Small Business Summit, we are resilient," she said. "Many of us have experienced growth during the pandemic. And in spite of the financial challenges and economic challenges, we have the tools to grow our business."
Yaseen Shah is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @yaseennshah22.
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