After five straight quarters of increases in the percentage of small business owners who say conditions for their businesses are “good,” that proportion ticked down from 58 percent to 55 percent in this quarter's CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Confidence Survey. Year over year, that number is still up 11 percentage points.
Hiring and revenue expectations dipped down this quarter, as well. The proportion of small business owners expecting revenue growth in the next year decreased from 62 to 58 percent, with those expecting to increase their staff ticking down from 33 to 29 percent. From the third to the fourth quarter of 2017, both of those numbers increased by one to two percentage points.
Read more about our polling methodology here.
Click through all the results in the interactive toplines below:
Question text:
Which one of the following issues matters MOST to you right now?
Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president?In addition to yourself, how many employees work at your small business?Is your business a:Overall, would you describe current conditions for your business as good, middling or bad? In the next 12 months, do you expect your business’s revenue to increase, stay the same, or decrease?
In the next 12 months, do you expect your business’s staff of full-time employees to increase, stay the same, or decrease? In the next 12 months, do you expect changes in government regulations to have a negative effect, no effect, or a positive effect on your business?
In the next 12 months, do you expect changes in trade policy to have a negative effect, no effect, or a positive effect on your business? In the next 12 months, do you expect changes in technological innovation to have a negative effect, no effect, or a positive effect on your business? In the next 12 months, do you expect changes in immigration policy to have a negative effect, no effect, or a positive effect on your business?
In the next 12 months, do you expect your business’s staff of full-time employees to increase, stay the same, or decrease?
What is currently the biggest challenge you face as a small business owner? When it comes to economic issues, do you see China mainly as an ally and partner, or mostly as an adversary and competitor? Does your company import or export any goods or services to or from China? Based on what you know about the tax reform bill, what do you expect to happen in 2018? Do you have any positions that have been open for at least 3 months that you have been unable to fill? In the past year, have you attended a conference, dinner or other gathering specifically programmed for or targeted to small business owners? Which of the following have you done to try to attract qualified workers to those open positions? (Select all that apply.)
Have you done any of the following as a result of the government shutdown? (Please select all that apply.) How has the government shutdown affected your business? (Please select all that apply.)
*businesses
