With many business owners not as stressed about employee benefits now that a portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been postponed, economic outlook appears to be improving, according to a new poll.
The National Small Business Association reported that among small business owners, overall economic sentiment has risen. When asked to compare present-day conditions with where things were in 2008, approximately 40 percent said circumstances were better today. That's the highest level recorded in five years.
Todd McCracken, CEO and president of the NSBA, indicated that while this is encouraging, it's not as high as it needs to be for the national economy to mount a significant recovery.
"Past and projected growth in jobs and revenues remained stagnant while small businesses availability to garner financing dropped – two key indicators that go hand-in-hand," said McCracken.
Consumers, meanwhile, appear to be largely sanguine about their ability to land a new job should they decide to leave their present one, as well as the vitality of their current employer. According to the latest Employee Confidence Index from market research firm Randstad, nearly 50 percent were optimistic about securing a position and nearly two-thirds said they had confidence in the financial solvency of the company they worked for.
