NFIB's 2024 survey: health insurance ranked first in every industry group. Below it the lists split. Cost of supplies: 2nd in retail, 45th in finance.
Census data: 48.5% of 2024 hires at firms under 20 employees lasted through the next full quarter. At 500 or more it was 49.8%. The trade mattered more.
Census survey: 80.0% of employers with 1 to 4 people used no NDA, noncompete, trade secret, trademark or patent. At 50 to 99 people it was 57.3%.
BLS data, 2009 against 2007: small workplaces raised their layoff rate by more than a third. Mid-sized ones cut their hiring rate by more than a quarter.
Fed survey: 8% of employer firms took a natural-disaster loss in the prior year. 34% of them rated their finances poor, against 20% of the rest.
Census data, 2022: 20.7% of US employer firms were 26 or older. By sector it ran from 49.5% in utilities to 12.7% in restaurants and hotels.
NFIB's problem rankings since 1986: health insurance first in all ten surveys, and federal and state taxes on business income never out of the top 10.
Census job-flow data: in July–September 2020, 23.6% of hires at firms under 20 were returning workers, against a usual 12.5%. Every size rose.
Census's Annual Business Survey: 75.4% of employers with 1 to 4 people said no employee received training. It falls at every size band through 20 to 49.
In Census's 2021 management survey, 41.8% of manufacturing plants said their targets needed more than normal effort. 13.6% said little or some.
Fed survey data on why small employers chose a lender: at large banks 61% named an existing relationship. At online lenders, 64% named speed.
Census data: firms aged five or under went from 32.2% of US employers in 2014 to 36.0% in 2022. Their share of all jobs: 10.6% to 10.9%, barely moved.
NFIB's 2024 survey: new owners rank advertising and getting a loan about 20 to 31 places higher. Owners of 21+ years rank estate tax and rules higher.
Census job-flow data: in Jan–Mar 2020, firms under 20 employees lost jobs at a 14.8% rate, against 7.6% at 500+. By April–June, theirs was nearly back.
After a service or production problem, 20.2% of employers with 1 to 4 people fixed it and stopped or left it unfixed, Census data show. At 20 to 49: 9.7%.
In Census's 2021 management survey, 26.0% of manufacturing plants said non-managers never reviewed performance indicators. Managers: 9.8%.
Fed survey data: at the smallest firms, the owner's own money was the most common answer to a cash squeeze. From 20 employees up, cash reserves came first.
Census data on firms by the size they started at: those that opened with one to four employees close more often at every age, even 26 years in.
NFIB's 2024 survey split by sales trend: when sales fall, money problems climb the list and hiring drops ten places. About as many still call it critical.
Census hiring data by firm age: at the youngest firms most hires fill new jobs. At firms 11 years and older, about two in three refill a seat someone left.
Census asked employers what happened to under-performing staff. The smallest firms left them in place almost twice as often as firms of 20 to 49.
BLS household survey: in the 2020 shock, wage jobs fell hard while the self-employed count barely moved. In 2008 it went the other way, and took a decade.
Fed survey data on the lender after the yes: big banks satisfy their larger small-business borrowers far more often. Online lenders satisfy about a third.
Across 21 manufacturing trades, Census's structured-management score runs from 0.366 to 0.642. By state, 39 of 50 sit level with the nation.
NFIB asked 2,873 owners to rate 75 problems. Managing employees sits near the bottom for the smallest firms and climbs into the top ten by 20 staff.
