RAPAPORT... Small business owners in the U.S. are slightly more pessimistic today than they were one year ago as the calendar shifts to 2014, according to a recent fourth-quarter update by the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index. Of 605 small business owners who were interviewed for the survey, Gallup found that 28 percent evinced less optimistic feelings about their future in 2014, while 23 percent said they had a slightly more positive outlook than one year ago. Forty-nine percent of the respondents stated that their sense of optimism was unchanged from December 2012. About one-quarter of business owners believe that operating conditions would even worsen in the new year, while an equal number foresee improving conditions.
These small business owners’ apprehensions about the New Year were basically split between government and business factors, ranging from the potential effect of the Affordable Health Care Act to federal and state taxes, both of which are out of their control. The other half of respondents were more concerned with traditional business issues, such as developing successful, competitive marketing strategies and hiring issues in the year ahead.
Meanwhile, the current U.S. economic climate has shown a few positive signs, such as better-than-expected gross domestic product (GDP), strong performance in the stock market and a slow, but steady, improvement for consumer confidence.
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