Nearly 50% of respondents in the latest Connecticut Small Business Development Center survey say they are confident their business will return to profitability within the next 12 months.
In addition, 55% of minority respondents to the survey, conducted during Dec. 1, 2020 and Jan. 4, 2021, said the same.
Other key findings of the survey include:
- Nine out of 10 respondents said they would continue to focus on the health and safety of employees and customers once the pandemic ends.
- Eight out 10 reported a decline in revenue, while three quarters reported a revenue decline of 25% or more, over the prior year.
- More than half of the business owners reported working without a salary in the first three months of the pandemic and 49.3% reduced employee hours.
- 3% of employers continued to report the need to reduce employee hours from the periods of June through August 2020 and September through December 2020.
- Business owners personally worked without a salary from the periods of June through August and September through December, at 45.9% and 44.7%, respectively.
- 4% of respondents reported receiving a PPP loan, and 28.8% received the Economic Injury and Disaster Loan (EIDL).
- Minority-owned firms reported receiving the PPP at a lower rate than non-minority-owned business, at 43.9% and 64.5%, respectively.
- Reasons for not applying for the PPP loan included an unwillingness or inability to take on more debt (30.7%), concerns about qualifying for the PPP loan forgiveness (22.6%), ineligibility (15.2%), lack of need or interest (11.1%), no knowledge of the program (7.8%) and no existing bank relationship (5.2%).
- At the time of the survey (from December 2020 through January 2021), more than one-third of respondents (36.3%) indicated their business would close without additional emergency funding, one out of four (26.1%) said lack of aid would hinder their recovery strategies, and 19.2% said funding would be nice but not critical.
- More respondents in the construction (79%) and health care and social assistance (75.9%) industries anticipate their business returning to profitability in the next 12 months, with more respondents in the arts, entertainment and recreation (31.4%) and accommodation and food services (28.4%) considering closing their business. (Those sentiments were recorded before the release of the funding relief packages provided by the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.)
The survey was distributed by email and text to over 6,300 small businesses located in Connecticut, defined as having fewer than 500 employees and less than $20 million in annual revenue. 702 valid responses were received and no incentives were offered to complete the survey.
The survey had a confidence level of 95%, and a margin of error of +/- 3.6%. A dual-level of quality assurance was employed, including supervisory personnel, in addition to a computer-aided interviewing platform to ensure the integrity of the data was accurate.
