It is beginning to sound like a broken record. Small businesses and American families continue to shoulder the burden of Biden and Pelosi’s inflation crisis. Whether it is a supply chain disruption or a labor shortage, Main Street USA is facing numerous roadblocks. Reckless spending and unnecessary policymaking are plaguing Washington, causing runaway inflation and slowing economic growth. As our primary job creators, small businesses and entrepreneurs need an economic environment that is supportive, not hostile. Under the Biden Administration and a Democrat-controlled Congress, small businesses are in a state of crisis.
The below June 2022 Small Business Snapshot features numbers and news updates to provide more insight into the current small business economy.
MAINSTREET MEASUREMENTS:
CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (INFLATION)
- The prices consumers paid for goods and services increased by 1.0 percent in May as compared to April, totaling an 8.6 percent increase when measured over the last 12 months.
PRODUCER PRICE INDEX
- Producer price index increased .8 percent in May and 10.8 percent year over year.
JOB OPENINGS
- At the end of April, businesses were unable to fill a near record 11.4 million jobs and a near record 4.4 million workers quit their jobs.
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
- 390,000 jobs were created in May, and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.6 percent. 6.0 million Americans are unemployed.
LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE
- The labor force participation rate remained stagnant at 62.3 percent in May.
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS
- For the week ending June 11, 2022, the Department of Labor reported that initial unemployment claims were 229,000.
PERSONAL CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURES PRICE INDEX (CORE PCE which excludes energy and food)
- Core PCE registered a reading of 4.9 percent in April when measured year over year.
BUSINESS FORMATION STATISTICS
- Business formation applications totaled 420,586 in May marking a decrease of 0.6 percent over last month.
HIGH PROPENSITY BUSINESS FORMATION STATISTICS
- New businesses categorized as having an increased likelihood of having employees and a payroll, otherwise known as High Propensity Businesses, totaled 137,608 (an increase of 1.8 percent) in May.
CONSUMER SENTIMENT
- Consumer sentiment registered 65.2 in April.
COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL LOAN DATA
- Through May, commercial and industrial loans totaled $2.598 trillion.
SBA LENDING DATA
- The SBA approved a total of $16.2 billion 7(a) Loans through June 10, 2022.
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Job Creators Network: “Joe Biden Can’t Spin His Way Out of Historic Inflation: Job Creators Network Reacts” (HERE)
- “‘Inflation continues to stay elevated at a 41 year high of 8.6% from this time last year, with the biggest increases seen for shelter, gas, and food.’”
- “‘Energy overall saw its largest 12-month increase since 2005, with oil for fuel having gone up 106.7% since last year, the largest increase in the history of the series, which only dates back to 1935. The food index increased by over 10%, the largest increase since 1981.’”
- “‘The Biden administration is clearly in over their heads and trying to revive parts of Build Back Broke won’t help. It’s time to drop the spin and start listening to the needs of small businesses and Americans.’”
National Federation of Independent Business: “Out-of-Control Rising Inflation Continues to Harm Small business Recovery” (HERE)
- “‘With inflation reaching a near 40-year high, small businesses continue to be plagued by rising prices with little hope for relief on the horizon.’”
- “‘As recent data shows, inflation remains the top problem for one-third of small business owners, has a direct impact on small business optimism, which is at a near 50-year low, and continues to harm the small business recovery.’”
- “‘With the detriment of inflation, worker shortages, and supply chain disruptions, the Biden administration and Congress must adopt a do no harm approach and rule out any tax increases and mandates on small businesses, and specifically promote policies that would strengthen the small business recovery.’”
The Wall Street Journal: “U.S. Economic Growth Shows Signs of Slipping” (HERE)
- “Recent reports show sharp declines in key sectors, raising the prospects of a stalled economic recovery and possibly a recession.”
- “Economists have slashed their projections for second-quarter output growth in recent days. One closely watched forecast—the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDPNow tracker—estimates that gross domestic product is on track to remain unchanged at an annual rate over the three months through June 30. Output fell at a 1.5% annual rate in the first quarter.”
- “Those figures suggested that persistent supply shortages, a 40-year high in inflation and the Federal Reserve’s aggressive efforts to tame price pressures by raising interest rates are cooling the world’s largest economy.”
Fox Business: “Sizzling-Hot Inflation Costing Americans an Extra $460 a Month, Analysis Shows” (HERE)
- “The average American is shelling out an extra $460 a month because of the hottest inflation in decades, according to a new Moody's Analytics analysis.”
- “Inflation accelerated again in May, the Labor Department reported last week, with the consumer price index rising by 8.6% – much higher than economists expected. It marks the fastest pace of inflation since December 1981, underscoring just how strong inflationary pressures in the economy still are.”
- “Rising prices are eating away the strong wage gains that American workers have seen in recent months: Real average hourly earnings decreased 0.6% in May from the previous month, as the inflation increase eroded the 0.3% total wage gain, according to the Labor Department. On an annual basis, real earnings actually dropped 3% in May.”
Fox Business: “US Economy Headed for Imminent Recession, Fed GDP Tracker Shows” (HERE)
- “A closely followed measurement from the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank suggests the U.S. economy could be headed for a second-quarter decline in gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced in a country.”
- “The GDPNow tracker shows that economic growth in the spring was flat at 0%, a steep decline from its previous estimate of 1.3% on June 1 and 0.9% on June 8.”
- “The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last month that gross domestic product unexpectedly shrank in the first quarter of the year by 1.5%, marking the worst performance since the spring of 2020, when the economy was still deep in the throes of the COVID-induced recession.”
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