Small businesses expect longer, milder impact from pandemic

The Census Bureau released new phase two data from its Small Business Pulse survey last week, showing some of the sectors most impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

What they found: Hiring and rehiring have slowed and businesses now broadly say they expect recovery from the pandemic to take much longer than previously thought.

• 44% of respondents expect recovery will take six months or longer and 10% say they don't ever expect to recover. This compares to 31% who said at least six months in the first week of the survey and 6% who said never.
• But more small firms say the pandemic will have a moderate negative impact on business than a large negative impact (45% vs. 34%) compared to the first week of the survey (39% vs. 51%).

Details: The survey is a collection of "high-frequency, detailed information on the challenges small businesses are facing during the Coronavirus pandemic as well as their participation in federal programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program," according to the Census Bureau.

• It includes information about "small business operations and finances, requests and receipt of assistance, and measures of overall well-being and expectations for recovery. Data is available by sector and state for the fifty most populous Metropolitan Statistical Areas."