The NFIB Research Center released a Small Business Economic Trends Industry-specific survey highlighting the construction, manufacturing, retail and services industries. NFIB released a previous quarterly report in May 2020.

“Small businesses are working hard to stay open while they continue to navigate the coronavirus pandemic,” says Holly Wade, NFIB Director of Research & Policy Analysis. “This report shows that some industries are recovering faster than others, but there is still much work to be done.”

The key findings include:

Construction

• The July Optimism Index for construction was 100.6, up 9.1 points from April’s quarterly report and 1.8 points higher than the overall Index of all firms.
• Demand for new construction has remained high and the industry has a better than average outlook than the rest of the economy.
• The demand for new workers in construction remains high as the industry had higher than average job openings and plans to increase employment.
• A net 24 percent plan to increase their workforce in the next three months.

Manufacturing

• The July Optimism Index for manufacturing was 100.5, a 13.1-point increase from April.
• Earnings trends over the last quarter were weaker in manufacturing than other industries, a net negative 46 percent of firms experienced lower earnings over the last quarter.
• Future sales expectations rebounded, a 64-point increase since April to a net 17 percent.
• Sales growth will be the key driver of earnings changes and manufacturing firm owners are expecting a strong recovery from record low levels experienced earlier this year.

Retail

• The July Optimism Index for retail was 99.9, closely tracking to the overall economy and 10 points better than the last quarter.
• A net 10 percent of retailers report current inventory levels “too low”, compared to only 1 percent of all small firms.
• Retailers plan to increase inventories more than the average as a net 13 percent plan to increase their current inventory levels.

Services

• The July Optimism Index for services remains below the overall at 97.1; services have not recovered as much as other industries after a smaller decline in April then the rest of the economy.
• Owners became more optimistic about economic trends and decided they needed to “staff up,” increasing the percent of service firms with hiring plans.
• The service sector reported a 46-point increase in the net percent expecting higher real sales.

NFIB’s latest survey on the impact COVID-19 has had on small businesses shows about one-in-five small business owners will have to shut their doors if current economic conditions do not improve over the next six months. In addition, 44 percent of small business owners surveyed said they would apply or re-apply for a second Paycheck Protection Program loan if eligible.

The full Small Business Economic Trends Industrysurvey is available here.