Q2 2023 Small Business Confidence Index increases to a score of 46, one point higher than the score in Q1 2023
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. and SAN MATEO, CA, May 4, 2023 — CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, and Momentive, the maker of SurveyMonkey, today announced the results of their quarterly CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey.
In the wake of the recent regional bank crisis, the second quarter survey, conducted April 17-24, 2023, finds that small businesses continue to rely on large banks even as confidence in the banking sector overall is showing signs of vulnerability. Forty percent of small business owners say they do their business banking with a large bank, rather than a regional bank (31%) or a community bank (32%), and small business owners are split evenly between those who express confidence in America’s banking system (49%) and those who do not (50%). Despite the significant deposit withdrawals in recent months, most small business owners (71%) are not likely to open a new bank account for their business in the next six months, and almost half (43%) say they’re moving money from one account to another about as frequently as they were a year ago. A majority (62%) of small business owners also say they are confident that their business capital is secure, but less (53%) say it is easy for them to access the capital needed for their business to operate.
The survey highlights that inflation remains top of mind for small business owners, with almost half (41%) saying inflation is the biggest risk to their business right now, above other concerns such as labor shortage (17%) and supply chain disruptions (15%). Almost all small business owners (91%) express worry about inflation and only about one-third (31%) express confidence in the Federal Reserve’s ability to combat inflation; both statistics are unchanged from last quarter.
Overall, the Small Business Confidence Index, a number based on responses to eight questions in the survey, rose slightly to a score of 46 in Q2 2023, one point higher than last quarter and four points higher than the all-time low of 42. Forty percent of small business owners now say current conditions for their business are good, up from 34% last quarter, and almost half (46%) expect their business’s revenue to increase in the next 12 months, up from 43% in Q1. Even though current conditions are viewed as more positive, overall views of the economy are dim with only 3% rating the current state of the economy as excellent, and many more considering it to be fair (34%) or poor (44%).
“Most–but far from all–small business owners are confident their business capital is secure, and only half express confidence in the overall American banking system,” says Laura Wronski, director of research at Momentive. “Even if the recent shake-up of the banking industry is behind us, small business owners’ haven’t yet changed their standard operations to reflect those jitters.”
Each quarter, CNBC and SurveyMonkey poll over 2,000 small business owners aiming to measure the vitality of the American economy as well as the view from Main Street on jobs, taxes, and other hot topics. In addition to measuring small business confidence nationwide, the large sample size gives CNBC and SurveyMonkey the power to uncover trends by geographic region and among specific small business cohorts.
Additional key findings from the Q2 2023 CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey include:
Small business owners’ views on banks by the size of institution where they hold their money:
- More than half (59%) of those who bank with large banks say it is easy to access necessary capital compared to 56% of those who use regional banks and 50% among those who use community banks.
- Small business owners are confident their business capital is secure; 67% of those who use large banks are confident versus 66% who use regional banks and 60% who use community banks.
- Small business owners have confidence in America’s banking system overall; 53% who themselves use large banks are confident versus 50% who use regional banks and 46% who use community banks.
- Small business owners who bank with large banks (30%), regional banks (28%), and community banks (28%) are all about equally likely to say they will open a new bank account within the next six months.
Small business owners’ views on President Biden:
- There is a slight increase in approval of how Joe Biden is handling his job as president with 34% approving of his job, compared to 32% last quarter. However, this is still lower than his top score of 43% in Q1 of 2021.
- More women (39%) than men (31%) approve of President Biden while small business owners under the age of 35 (39%) and 65 and older (41%) approve of him the most compared to those between the ages of 35 and 65.
CNBC Restaurant & Small Business Correspondent Kate Rogers will reveal the results of the CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey today, Thursday, May 4 throughout the network’s Business Day programming. For more information on the survey including the full results and methodology and in-depth articles, go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/curiosity/cnbc-small-business-q2-2023/.
Methodology:
Momentive created a unique Small Business Confidence Index (SBCI), which is a 100-point score based on responses to eight key questions. The index is calculated on a scale from 0–100 and is based on the responses to eight key questions. A zero indicates no confidence, and a score of 100 indicates perfect confidence. The second quarter of 2023′s SBCI has increased to an overall value of 46 from 45 in the first quarter.
This CNBC|SurveyMonkey online poll was conducted April 17-24, 2023 among a national sample of 2,223 self-identified small business owners ages 18 and up. This quarter, we also reached 11,436 individuals who do not own small businesses. Respondents for this survey were selected from the more than 2 million people who take surveys on the SurveyMonkey platform each day. The modeled error estimate for this survey is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for the results among small business owners and 1.5 percentage points for results among those who do not own small businesses.
Data for small business statistics have been weighted according to business characteristics (industry and number of employees) according to the Small Business Administration’s 2013 Statistics of U.S. Businesses. Additionally, person-level data (age, gender, level of education, race, geography) for business owners have been weighted to the Census Bureau’s 2012 Survey of Business Owners.
For more information contact:
CNBC
Jennifer Dauble
201-735-4721
CNBC
Stephanie Hirlemann
201-397-2838
Momentive
About CNBC:
CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business content consumed by more than 355 million people per month across all platforms. The network’s 14 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 5:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC’s global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC’s highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries.
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About Momentive:
Momentive (NASDAQ: MNTV), maker of SurveyMonkey, empowers people with the insights they need to make business decisions with speed and confidence. Our fast, intuitive experience and insights management solutions connect millions of users at more than 330,000 organizations worldwide with AI-powered technology and up-to-the-minute insights, so they can shape what’s next for their products, industries, customers, employees, and the market. Ultimately, our vision is to raise the bar for human experiences by amplifying individual voices. Learn more at momentive.ai.
