WASHINGTON - This week, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) released its September 2018 Small Business Optimism Index, which reports continued business optimism, and recorded the third highest level in the survey’s history.
The September 2018 NFIB survey revealed:
37 percent of owners reported compensation increases, which set a new record.
61 percent of… Read more »
WASHINGTON – This week, President Trump signed S. 791, the Small Business Innovation Protection Act of 2017, into law. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation is the Senate companion bill to H.R. 2655, which passed the House in July and was led by Rep. Dwight Evans (D-PA) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA). The Small Business Innovation Protection Act will expand intellectual property… Read more »
WASHINGTON – This week, House Committee on Small Business Chairman Steve Chabot (R-OH) wrote an op-ed for the Cincinnati Enquirer on how the opioid crisis is affecting small businesses and how the Committee is addressing this important issue.
“... According to a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), small business optimism is at a 45-year high. But they have… Read more »
WASHINGTON – Last week, the House Committee on Small Business held a full committee hearing on how the opioid crisis is affecting small business, specifically the decline in the labor force participation rate. The discussion included Katie Van Dyke, Director of Cleveland State University’s Ohio Small Business Development Center, as outlined by Cleveland.com below:
“The opioid crisis… Read more »
WASHINGTON – This week, Wells Fargo/Gallup released a survey touting the record-high optimism U.S. small business owners’ are experiencing, the highest in 15 years.
According to the report:
Cash flow and positive financial situation are strong drivers of optimism.
78 percent of small business owners rate their current financial situation as very or somewhat good, compared… Read more »
Proposed DOL Child Labor Regs Draw Fire From All Sides
Agripulse
The Department of Labor is likely to be in the hot seat Thursday when a House subcommittee
reviews proposed regulations that could restrict how children work on U.S. farms and ranches.
The plan, which has generated more than 10,000 public comments, is drawing fire from… Read more »
By Melanie Trottman; Wall Street Journal
The Labor Department Tuesday withdrew a proposal that would require companies to more carefully log workplace muscle sprains and strains, the latest result of the Obama administration's effort to respond to business concerns about federal regulation.
Employer groups had widely opposed the proposed recordkeeping change, saying it would put their… Read more »
By Hal Weitzman; Financial Times
Small businesses in the US are still cutting jobs, even though they are more optimistic about economic conditions than they have been in two years, according to a survey released yesterday by the National Federation of Independent Business, a lobby group.
The sentiment among businesses with fewer than 500 employees helps explain why unemployment rates… Read more »
*** COMMITTEE HEARING ***
Hearing: “Role of Automobile Dealerships in Rural Economies”
WASHINGTON- The House Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Rural Development, Entrepreneurship and Trade, will hold a hearing entitled, “Role of Automobile Dealerships in Rural Economies,” on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 10:00 am in Room 2360 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The… Read more »
Jason Furman owes an apology to Michael Boskin, the Stanford economist who wrote a year ago on these pages that Barack Obama would raise American income tax rates nearly to 60%. Mr. Furman, then in the Obama campaign and now at the White House, claimed this was wrong and that Democrats would merely raise taxes back to their Clinton-era level.
House Democrats are now proving that Mr.… Read more »
