Small Businesses Worried About Inflation, Forced to Raise Prices Even as Performance Improves

Vegetables are pictured at a produce stand at Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia Feb. 19, 2022, after the inflation rate hit a 40-year high in January. Hannah Beier/Reuters

Small businesses are “feeling good” about the health of their ventures and optimistic regarding the future, but they’re also worried about the effects of inflation, according to a poll taken Jan. 14–26 by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and MetLife.

A third of small-business owners ranked inflation as their biggest challenge, the Chamber said in a March 29 news release announcing the poll results. This is up from 23 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021. Eighty-five percent of small business owners said they were “concerned” about inflation’s impacts, while 44 percent said they were “very concerned” about the price hikes.