Business Owners Remain Optimistic: Survey

Business-owner optimism remains high, PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s latest semi-annual survey of small- and mid-sized firms has found. That finding, in turn, supports the PNC’s forecast of a soft landing for the U.S. economy.

Here are some specific findings from the survey, which drew responses from 500 small and mid-sized business owners/leaders with self-reported annual revenue of $100,000 to $250 million:

• A majority (56%) of such owners are highly optimistic about the national economy, inching above the 55% of last spring and up significantly from 34% a year ago. Six in 10 (62%) are optimistic about their local economy. Global economic optimism (39%) is little changed from four in 10 last spring.
• In the latest wave of the survey, now in its 22nd year, three-quarters (76%) are optimistic about the prospects for their own business, consistent with the measure six months (79%) and a year ago (77%) but remains significantly higher than the survey’s historical average optimism of 39%. And while recession concerns have crept into the economic conversation, only-one third (33%) of business owners think the impact of the U.S. economy on their own business is major, with the majority feeling the impact is either minor (43%) or of little or no impact (24%).

“These findings are consistent with PNC’s forecast for continued economic expansion through the rest of 2024 and in 2025,” said PNC Chief Economist Gus Faucher. “While there’s increased uncertainty around the economy, positive sentiment like this demonstrates that the fundamentals remain solid. With small- and mid-sized business owners feeling very optimistic and the labor market remaining solid, recession concerns in the fall of 2024 are overstated.”

Click here for more from the PNC survey.