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%).