Attracting New Business Is a Top Challenge for SMBs

The top challenge for small business owner across the U.S. is hiring qualified staff and keeping them around, according to a new quarterly report from Wells Fargo and Gallup. This concern has doubled in five years, skyrocketing to a top issue for small business owners. The tight labor market is making it difficult for all companies—big or small—to retain staff and keep positions filled.

Finding new business and customers also makes it into small business owners’ central concerns, though this is issue is down nearly 5 percentage points when compared to five years ago. Financial stability and taxes remain top challenges for small business owners, though they are some of the more stable issues over time, with a similar share of respondents citing these concerns year-to-year.

Overall business sentiment among small-business owners was down in the first quarter of 2019, largely due to the government shutdown.