Small Businesses Struggle to Add More Jobs, According to New Study

Since the turn of the 21st century, small businesses have struggled to survive and grow. The recession combined with sluggish economic growth have created conditions that are inhospitable to entrepreneurs. Instead, people who had dreams of running their own businesses often had to shelve their plans and settle for working a full-time job. Small businesses have had such a difficult time growing that many of them now employ fewer than 20 employees at a time. Many of those employees only work on a part-time basis.

The Decline of American Small Businesses

The post-World War II economy relied greatly on small businesses to keep people gainfully employed. Small companies played a central role in the economy until the 1980s when mega companies like Walmart expanded and eventually took over much of the American market. Even then, small businesses still were able to pick up the slack and hold a relatively secure place of their own in the national economy. Many of them were able to hire and maintain staffs of 20 or more employees.

However, the importance of small businesses in the U.S. declined significantly after the turn of the 21st century when the economic recession took its toll on businesses of all sizes. Even retail giant Walmart suffered and had to suspend hiring full-time employees. The economy has not picked up at a pace that proves to be conducive to small businesses recovering at the same rate of larger companies. Many of these smaller companies still risk going out of business and even worse are not able to hire employees like they were in the past.

Less than ninety percent of them are actually able to hire more than 20 employees, in fact. Only 16 percent are able to maintain one full-time worker while 20 percent can maintain at least two full or part-time employees. This dismal fact shows that small businesses are still suffering and need help to regain their former significance and glory in the American marketplace.

Small Business Owners Hopeful in Trump

Many small business owners argue that Obama did little to help them out during his presidency. Between raising the minimum wage and inflicting the mandates and penalties of Obamacare on them, they could barely bring in a profit, let alone hire employees or grow their companies. A new survey shows that more than 60 percent of small business owners throughout the U.S. are hopeful that President Trump can finally turn the economy around for them and create a market that is both competitive, fair, and promising. Trump has announced plans to assist small businesses in ways that have not been seen since before Reagan took office.

The epicenter of his plans lies in his promise to ease taxes and other financial burdens on small businesses in the U.S. Owners no longer have to fear the Obamacare individual mandate or IRS fines for failing to maintain bronze level insurance. They also have been promised that the federal minimum wage will not be raised to $15 an hour.

Further, Trump’s plans for deregulation and tax breaks for businesses of all sizes could create the environment that small companies need to grow and survive. They also may soon be able to hire and keep employees.

The 21st century has proven disastrous for American small businesses. President Trump promised to undo many of Obama’s mandates that penalized and restricted small companies. Entrepreneurs are hopeful that Trump can restore the importance of small businesses and help them become employers who pay decent wages and avoid the worry of having to lay off thier workers to save money and profits.
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