A seasonally adjusted net 12% of business owners planned to create new jobs in the next three months, down 2 percentage points (pp) from January. The percentage of owners thinking it’s a good time to expand was 5%, down 3 pp from the previous month. 37% of owners reported job openings they could not fill in the current period, down 2 pp from January and the lowest reading since January 2021.
A net negative 13% of all owners (seasonally adjusted) reported higher nominal sales in the past three months, down 2 pp from January. The net percent of owners raising average selling prices decline 1 pp from January to a net 21% seasonally adjusted, the lowest reading since January 2021. The net percent of owners expecting higher real sales volumes improved 6 pp to a net negative 10%. The frequency of reports of positive profit trends was a net negative 31%, 1 pp worse than January.
3% of owners reported that all their borrowing needs were not satisfied, unchanged for the third consecutive month. 24% reported all credit needs met (down 2 pp) and 61% they were not interested in a loan (down 1 pp). A net 7% reported their last loan was harder to get than in previous attempts (up 1 pp).
Read the NFIB report.
