2023-05-27 08:40:15
Led by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, with the support of the eleven other regional members of the Federal Reserve System, the results of the 2022 Small Business Credit Survey were released in March.
Based on 7,864 responses from U.S. businesses, employing between 1 and 500 full- or part-time workers, the survey collected information on “credit seeking performance, challenges, and experience.” In contrast to previous surveys conducted during the pandemic, the 2022 survey revealed increases in revenue, hiring and profitable operations. Also, with the decline in funding sources available during the pandemic, more businesses have sought traditional financing, such as “loans, lines of credit, and merchant cash advances.”
Some of the challenges faced by the companies surveyed were operational, such as hiring staff, or running supply chains, while some financial difficulties consisted of covering operating expenses, or managing unstable cash flows. The proportion of approved applications for loans, lines of credit and cash advances, primarily to meet operating expenses, increased to 53 percent in 2022, from 46 percent in 2021, but still below 62 percent in 2019.
By ethnicity, 81 percent of surveyed business owners were White, 11 percent Asian, 6 percent Hispanic, 2 percent African American, and 1 percent American Indian or Alaska Native. By gender, 64 percent of owners were men, 22 percent were women, and 14 percent were owned by both.
Isaac Cohen
*International analyst and consultant, former director of the ECLAC Office in Washington. Economy and finance commentator for CNN en Español TV and radio, UNIVISION, TELEMUNDO and other media.
[email protected]
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