A seasonally adjusted net 14% of business owners planned to create new jobs in the next three months, down two percentage points (pp) from December. The percentage of owners thinking it’s a good time to expand was 8%, unchanged from the previous month. 39% of owners reported job openings they could not fill in the current period, down one point from December and the lowest reading since January 2021.
A net negative 11% of all owners (seasonally adjusted) reported higher nominal sales in the past three months, unchanged from December. The net percent of owners raising average selling prices declined 3 pp from December to a net 22% seasonally adjusted. The net percent of owners expecting higher real sales volumes declined 12 pp to a net negative 16%. The frequency of reports of positive profit trends was a net negative 30%, 5 pp worse than December, and a very poor reading.
3% of owners reported that all their borrowing needs were not satisfied (unchanged). 26% reported all credit needs met (up 1 pp) and 62% said they were not interested in a loan (up 1 pp). A net 6% reported their last loan was harder to get than in previous attempts (down 2 pp).
Read the NFIB report.
