February 8, 2021 A large share of small businesses in the District continue to feel the negative effects of COVID-19. In the first quarter, small- and medium-sized firms shed more than 15% of their employees year over year, only some of which recovered through June according to stats from ADP, a payroll processing firm. By the third quarter, the Census Bureau’s weekly Small Business Pulse Survey reported that three-quarters of small businesses nationally had felt negative impacts from the pandemic. The hardest-hit states in the District continue to be those with a high reliance on energy and tourism (such as Alaska and Hawaii) and those with more extensive COVID-19 restrictions and mandates (such as California and Washington). Unsurprisingly, the following sectors have reported the highest percentage of negative effects due to COVID-19: educational services, accommodation/ food service, health care, arts/entertainment, and other services such as spas, salons, and repair shop
Where Small Business Sentiment Is More Positive for 2021
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The Census Bureau’s Small Business Pulse Survey shows that during the first week of December 2020, business expectations were depressed nationwide. While less than 2% of small businesses have closed during COVID-19, 52.9% of small businesses nationally expect they won’t return to normal levels of operation for at least six months or ever.
Though that outlook may seem a bit bleak, business sentiment remains stronger in some places compared to others. In this study, SmartAsset used data published in the Small Business Pulse Survey to determine the metro areas where small business sentiment is more positive heading into 2021. We compared the 50 largest U.S. metro areas across four metrics: percentage of small businesses that are operating at normal levels, percentage of small businesses that do not expect a return to normal levels of operations within six months or ever, percentage of small businesses looking to hire