Yahoo Finance Small business owners more confident but still worry about health care: BofA
For the first time in two years, more small business owners are feeling confident their cash registers will be ringing on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
In the retail sector, “seventy-four percent of the small business owners said that they will improve their revenue and their bottom line from Black Friday and Cyber Monday,” said Sue Lonergan, small business executive at Bank of America (BAC).
Bank of America’s latest report on small business owners also found millennial and Generation-X entrepreneurs are more confident about their business growth, as well as the overall economy.
“There are huge generational differences in the way that the business owners are running their businesses, and we see the millennials so much more adept at using technology and using social media … than the baby boomers,” said Lonergan.
Small business owners surveyed are also planning to hiring additional employees over the next 12 months, which is up significantly from a year ago. And once again, technology is a leading factor behind the hiring. “Small business owners are looking for individuals who have that technology expertise because they do want to make more of a foray into the social media and the technology sectors themselves,” said Lonergan.
And more positive news is that these jobs aren’t just low-wage or part-time. “What we've seen in this survey is that most of the growth is more with the high paying jobs than it has been in the past,” said Lonergan.
When it comes to enticing recruits or keeping workers happy, small businesses are adopting perks like nap pods and pet-friendly work environments. But still, less than half of those surveyed offered health care.
“It's the same answer every year, that they are worried about the cost of health care and how to help provide health care to their employees. And it's just a challenge for them because of the cost of it,” said Lonergan.
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The Bank of America Small Business Owner Report is a semi-annual survey of about 1,000 small business owners in the United States with annual revenue between $100,000 and $4,999,999, with fewer than 100 employees.
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