Small Business Owners Experiencing Stagflation

According to the survey, 31% of owners said that inflation is the single most important problem they face, up from 4% last March (chart below). A record 72% of them raised their selling prices, while 50% of them are planning to do so. The percent of owners planning to raise worker compensation remained in recent record-high territory at 28%.The NFIB survey found that the percent of respondents agreeing that the outlook for general business conditions six months from now would be better rather than worse fell to a record-low -49% during March (chart below). That might explain why the percent planning to increase hiring over the next three months fell from a record high of 32% last August to 20% during March.