NFIB Says Businesses Still Lacking Customers

Washington, DC, Feb. 9, 2010--Small business sentiment improved slightly in January, according to a report released by the National Federation of Independent Business on Tuesday.

However, the index of business optimism remains at historically low levels in spite of the improvements in the economy in the second half of 2009.

"Small business owners entered 2010 the same way they left 2009, depressed," said William Dunkelberg, NFIB chief economist. "The biggest problem continues to be a shortage of customers."

The NFIB said its index of small business optimism edged up to a reading of 89.3 in January from a reading of 88.0 in December. The index is 8.3 points higher than the survey's second lowest reading reached in March 2009.

Despite the modest increase by the index, the NFIB said that optimism has clearly stalled, noting that the quarterly index readings have been below 90 for seven quarters.

Ten percent of small business owners said that they plan to reduce employment over the next three months, down 5 percentage points. Another 10 percent plan to create new jobs over the next three months, up 2 percentage points.