Blog & Company News

May 3, 2012

Small Businesses Are Not Hiring!

[caption id="attachment_393" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Small Businesses Are Not Hiring!"][/caption] This article was originally published on our Forbes blog and can be found at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/thesba/2012/05/03/small-businesses-are-not-hiring/ Today, The Small Business Authority released the findings of their SB Authority Market Sentiment Survey. The survey is a monthly window into the concerns of independent business owners. This month, over 2,600 respondents were polled on the topic of hiring and employment. A key finding was that 67% of business owners do not plan on hiring in the next six to 12 months. Additionally, 58% of business owners do not hire recent graduates. When looking at the current 8.2% unemployment rate, 26% of business owners believe that the rate will be higher on Election Day in November, while 40% think it will be lower and 34% believe it will remain unchanged. It is clear that most small businesses are not optimistic about the future business climate and are hesitant to hire. More importantly, the environment is still dictating that business owners, when given an opportunity to grow and hire, are not interested in entry level college graduates for fear of the time lag, energy, and effort required to train them. Business owners would rather find experienced personnel in the market who could make an immediate impact to the company’s bottom line. The weak economy has also weakened the bid from business owners to hire college graduates who require time, training dollars, energy, and effort until they are productive. The full April 2012 results showed the following:

Poll Question	Poll Answer	Percentage
Do you plan on hiring in the next 6 to 12 months?	Yes	33%
	No	67%
Does your company hire employees who have just graduated from college?	Yes	42%
	No	58%
Do you think the unemployment rate of 8.2% nationally will be higher, lower or the same by election day in November?	Higher	26%
	Lower	40%
	Same	34%