The latest survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce shows that most of the nation’s 31 million small-business owners, 62%, believe the worst is yet to come. About three-fourths of small-business owners say they will need more help from the government to survive this year.
The past year has been the worst for small businesses in three decades, said Maggie Horne, director of the Small Business Development Center at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. She said the problems include inconsistent lockdown rules from state to state and the slowness of some business owners to move parts of their operations online.