The coronavirus pandemic is emerging as an existential threat to the nation’s small businesses – despite Congress approving a historic $700 billion to support them – with the potential to further diminish the place of small companies in the American economy.
The White House and Congress have made saving small businesses a linchpin of the financial rescue, even passing a second stimulus for them late last month. But already, economists project that more than 100,000 small businesses have shut permanently since the pandemic escalated in March, according to a study by researchers at the University of Illinois, Harvard University and the University of Chicago. Their latest data suggests that at least 2% of small businesses are gone, according to a survey conducted Saturday to Monday.
The rate is higher in the restaurant industry, where 3% of restaurant operators have gone out of businesses, according to the National Restaurant Association.
NEW: Over 100,000 small businesses have closed forever as America’s pandemic toll escalates
“Temporary” closures are becoming permanent.
So many small biz owners tell me the same thing: The PPP was either too slow — or too rigid in its rules to help. https://t.co/I3uGRMrnRb
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) May 12, 2020