by Calculated Risk on 10/10/2017 08:43:00 AM

From the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB): Small Business Optimism Slides in September, Expected business conditions tumble in NFIB Optimism Index

The NFIB Index of Small Business Optimism tumbled in September from 105.3 to 103 led by a steep drop in sales expectations, not just in hurricane-affected states, but across the country.

“The temptation is to blame the decline on the hurricanes in Texas and Florida, but that is not consistent with our data,” said Juanita Duggan, NFIB President and CEO. “Small business owners across the country were measurably less enthusiastic last month.”
...
Job creation weakened in the small business sector as business owners reported an adjusted average employment change per firm of -0.17 workers. Decreases were reported by owners in six of the nine Census regions, so it wasn’t just a hurricane effect. ... Nineteen percent of owners cited the difficulty of finding qualified workers as their Single Most Important Business Problem (unchanged), second only to taxes. This is the top ranked problem for those in construction (30 percent) and manufacturing (28 percent), getting more votes than taxes and regulations.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the small business optimism index since 1986.

The index decreased to 103.0 in September.