Report shows optimism up, jobs down

The National Federation of Independent Business released its quarterly report yesterday, showing small-business owners are more optimistic about the economy, but still not hiring.

For starters, here are the basics laid out in the report, which you can read here.



In a nutshell, optimism is higher than it has been in the last 13 months, according to the business owners surveyed. But that optimism isn't playing out in the way you might think.

Small business sales are still low, prices are still dropping and jobs are still being cut, according to the report.

Here's the historical outlook:



The NFIB, which has long been critical of efforts to bolster small-business lending, released this commentary on what the report turned up:

"The (Obama) administration has recently jumped on the 'small business bandwagon,' although little important action has been taken. It sounds like the Administration thinks the reason small firms are not hiring is that they are not able get credit. Although credit is harder to get, “financing” is cited as the “most important problem” by only four percent of NFIB's hundreds of thousands of member firms. Although a nice gesture, enhancing SBA lending programs will not help much – too many owners have no reason to borrow."

The commentary continued: "Record low percentages cite the current period as a good time to expand, more owners plan to reduce inventories than to add to them, and record low percentages plan any capital expenditures. In short, the demand for credit is in short supply and failing to understand the more major problems facing small business leads to bad policy."