Half of small businesses say compliance requirements make it harder to grow

Washington, DC, December 16, 2024 — The Q4 2024 MetLife/U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index is 69.1, down slightly from last quarter’s Index Score of 71.2 but up from this time last year (61.3). While most Index measures are stable this quarter, small businesses are slightly more likely than last quarter to report that there is an increase in the time or resources spent fulfilling compliance and regulatory requirements compared to six months ago. Overall, though, small business owners and decision makers are generally more positive about their business operations and the economy than they were to end 2023. Despite continued concerns around inflation, small businesses remain optimistic about future hiring, investment, and revenue.

Although the time or resources spent dealing with compliance has reportedly increased this quarter, most small business owners feel comfortable with their knowledge of compliance and report turning to a variety of information sources when facing a complex compliance issue. However, many also acknowledge that they spend too much time on compliance, and about half say compliance requirements make it harder for them to grow their business.

With the approaching holiday season, most small businesses, especially those in retail, say the holiday season will be important to their overall profits at the end of the year. While few report planning to hire seasonal employees, more, but still under half, say they plan to extend regular business hours or offer seasonal discounts. Among small businesses that say they plan to hire seasonal employees, the majority report planning to offer hiring incentives or bonuses to attract them.

For more information about this study, please click here.

About the Study

These are the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between October 7^th to October 21^st, 2024. For this survey, a sample of 750 small business owners and operators age 18+ from the continental U.S. Alaska and Hawaii was interviewed online in English.

The sample was randomly drawn from partner online panel sources that specialize in B2B sample and does not rely on a population frame in the traditional sense. Ipsos uses fixed sample targets, unique to the study, in drawing sample. Small businesses are defined in this study as companies with 500 or fewer employees that are not sole proprietorships. This sample calibrates respondent characteristics to be representative of the U.S. small business population using standard procedures such as raking-ratio adjustments. The source of these population targets is U.S. Census 2020 Statistics of U.S. Businesses dataset. The sample drawn for this study reflects fixed sample targets on firmographics. Post-hoc weights were made to the population characteristics on region, industry sector and size of business. Additional post-hoc weights were made to the population characteristics on the gender of the business’s owner and whether the business is minority-owned or not. The source of these two weight variables is the Small Business Administration’s 2022 Small Business Profiles.

Statistical margins of error are not applicable to online non-probability polls. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error and measurement error. Where figures do not sum to 100, this is due to the effects of rounding. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points for all respondents. Ipsos calculates a design effect (DEFF) for each study based on the variation of the weights, following the formula of Kish (1965). This study had a credibility interval adjusted for design effect of the following (n=750, DEFF=1.5, adjusted Confidence Interval=+/-5.9 percentage points).

Starting with the March 2020 survey, small business decision makers are reached via an online survey, in place of the typical phone-based approach. This methodological shift is in response to lower anticipated response rates in dialing owners at their businesses as a result of mandated closures related to the COVID-19 outbreak. While significant changes in data points can largely be attributed to the recent economic environment, switching from a phone to online approach may have also generated a mode effect.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Mallory Newall

Vice President, US

Public Affairs

+1 202 374 2613

[email protected]

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