Small Business Checkpoint
October 2022
Key takeaways
- Despite looming recession fears, small businesses seem confident they can survive an economic downturn according to a recent Bank of America survey. This is likely because they feel they have sufficient financial buffers: in September, average bank deposit balances per Bank of America small business client were 51% higher than the comparable period in 2019.
- Also encouraging is that a large portion of small businesses indicate that they have no plans to pull back on hiring and payroll payments growth remains elevated. But the caveat is that higher labor costs, among other inflationary pressures, will continue to bite.
- To weather these cost pressures, small businesses plan to raise prices and rely more on business credit cards as a funding source, according to the same Bank of America survey. This is echoed by Bank of America data showing that small business credit card spending per client was up 14.2% YoY in September, dwarfing the 1.3% YoY rise in debit card spending per client.
Read our full analysis for a more in-depth look at these trends.
Small Business Checkpoint is a regular publication from Bank of America Institute. It aims to provide a real-time assessment of small business spending activities and financial well-being, leveraging the depth and breadth of Bank of America’s proprietary data. Such data is not intended to be reflective or indicative of, and should not be relied upon as, the results of operations, financial condition or performance of Bank of America.
