LANSING- SBAM’s latest quarterly Small Business Barometer survey finds that 30 percent of small business owners plan to increase their number of employees over the next 12 months.
?The number of employers who say they expect to increase their number of workers in the coming year has fluctuated between 20 percent and 30 percent since 2000,? said SBAM Vice President Communications Michael Rogers. ?By contrast, that figure ranged from 30 percent to 40 percent during the 1990s. That?s reflection of our state?s economic difficulties since the turn of the century.?
Barely half of small business owners give a positive rating to the Michigan marketplace, well off the record 80% level recorded in 1995,? Rogers said. ?Sixteen percent give a negative rating ? an all time high in the 14-year history of the Barometer. ?When small employers are not feeling very upbeat about the direction of the economy, it?s difficult for them to find a good reason to add to their workforces.?
Over half of Michigan?s private sector workers are employed in small businesses, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The quarterly Barometer survey is sponsored by SBAM with the participation and support of the Center for Urban Studies of Wayne State University. The survey was conducted by Public Policy Associates of Lansing.
