Small-Business Optimism Inches Up, but Inflation Remains ‘Serious Problem’: NFIB

Small-Business Optimism Inches Up, but Inflation Remains ‘Serious Problem’: NFIB
Customers shop at the TJ Maxx store in the Mall at Prince George's in Hyattsville, Md., on Aug. 17, 2022. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Naveen Athrappully
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Small-business sentiment saw an improvement in August, but continued to remain depressed, according to a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).

The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose by 1.9 points last month, to 91.8, data from a Sept. 13 press release showed. Though the index reversed some of the declines seen during the first half of the year, it remained below the 48-year average of 98 for the eighth consecutive month. Among survey respondents, 29 percent said that inflation was their single most important problem when it came to running their business.