With Small Businesses Permanently Changed By The Pandemic, Owners Looking To Vaccine-Driven Recovery, PNC Survey Shows
PITTSBURGH, March 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Small and mid-sized business owners strongly support vaccinations for COVID-19 and plan to encourage their employees to get the shots, which are central to a return to normalcy, according to the latest PNC semi-annual national small business survey, which concluded Feb. 2.
Nearly half of those surveyed (
The combination of higher operating costs and the anticipation of stable sales suggests small businesses will start feeling even more of a "squeeze" in their operations than they already are experiencing. Almost half (
"Clearly, small and mid-sized business owners have high hopes that successful adoption of vaccinations by the public will translate into an improved business environment, but many challenges remain in front of them," said PNC Chief Economist Gus Faucher. "As we saw in our survey last fall, business owners remain resilient as they adapt to the massive economic changes the pandemic has caused, and they expect most of these changes to be genuinely transformative."
Nine in 10 (
More than half of business leaders (
Further, nearly one in four businesses reported that they reduced their workforce last year and while most are not anticipated to be permanent layoffs, rehiring will be a slow process. Of those businesses that took action to cut workers in the past year, eight in 10 (
"Business owners indicated that they will have to cope with these challenges in two ways that are potentially harmful for the broader economic recovery, slowing the rate of hiring and increasing prices for their customers," Faucher said.
Other key survey findings include:
- Left Behind: Small business owners are not yet feeling part of the broader economic recovery. Their optimism is growing about the U.S. economy and their local economies, but slower growing when it comes to their own business.
- Back to Work: While the pandemic necessitated a major shift to work-from-home policies, these are unlikely to remain permanent. Nearly half of business reported shifting to work-from-home, but only a fraction (
15% ) anticipate the change to be long-lasting, while59% expect it to be temporary with the remainder unsure. - PPP Remains Critical for Survival: More than four in 10 businesses (
43% ) received PPP funding in 2020; another6% applied for but did not receive the funding, while the remainder of businesses did not apply. Three-quarters (76% ) of those who received a PPP loan considered it extremely important. More than four in 10 business leaders (43% ) considering obtaining a new 2021 PPP loan view it as extremely important for their business. - New Tech Provides Lifeline: More than half of business leaders (
56% ) report increased use of one or more technologies since the outbreak began. Three in 10 (30% ) have increased use of technology to improve workforce productivity. More than a third (38% ) applied new technologies to improve the sales process in the form of electronic or touchless payment systems (29% ) or electronic/website-enabled sales (23% ).
National and regional survey results are available at pnc.mediaroom.com.
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC) is one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the United States, organized around its customers and communities for strong relationships and local delivery of retail and business banking including a full range of lending products; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management and asset management. For information about PNC, visit www.pnc.com.
Methodology
The PNC Economic Outlook survey was conducted by telephone from 1/2/2021 to 2/2/2021, among small and mid-sized businesses with self-reported revenue of
DISCLAIMER: This report was prepared for general information purposes only and is not intended as specific advice or recommendations. Any reliance upon this information is solely and exclusively at your own risk. NOTE: The sum of percentages may not add to the total due to rounding.
CONTACT:
Alan Aldinger
(412) 370-3887
alan.aldinger@pnc.com
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SOURCE The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.