Support Small Businesses and Create Jobs

Quite understandably, there’s a growing level of impatience regarding continued high unemployment.   While the U.S. is making progress in certain aspects of the economy, we’re sliding backward with regard to jobs.  June unemployment figures rose again, back up to 9.2%.  Translation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is this: “More than 14.1 million workers are currently unemployed.  The number of longer-term unemployed, those jobless for 27 weeks or more, sits at 6.3 million workers.   And as we continue to lose public sector jobs (more than 39,000 government workers lost their jobs in June), private sector job growth has not been robust enough to improve overall unemployment.  It’s got everyone asking, “When will it start to improve and where will the new jobs come from?”

If past is prologue, most of the new jobs will come from the small business sector.  Over the past 15 years, small business has accounted for 75% of the net new jobs in the U.S.  Although confidence in the overall economy among small business CEOs is waning, according to the Q2 Vistage CEO Confidence Index, small business CEOs continue to dig deep: exploring new markets abroad; leveraging technology by marketing their products and services on multiple platforms; and continuing to be innovative in driving top-line revenues, while carefully managing their expenses.

Our confidence in the small business sector, the businesses that serve as our neighbors in communities across this country, will go a long way toward promoting overall economic growth – particularly with regard to jobs.  When it comes to getting America back to work, no one does it better than small business.    So whether you’re a policy maker or private citizen, if you want to bring jobs back, do what you can to support small businesses in your community!

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