Survey Shows One in Seven Small Businesses Not Confident of Surviving COVID-19 Pandemic

May 5, 2020

One in seven Michigan small businesses, or 14 percent, are not confident they will survive the COVID-19 pandemic, a survey done by the Small Business Association of Michigan showed.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and closure orders have created such an uphill challenge for small businesses that one out of every seven in Michigan aren’t sure they’ll be able to recover,” said SBAM President Brian Calley. “Michigan small businesses are truly struggling to survive.”

The survey, conducted in late April of more than 1,300 Michigan small businesses, also found that 60 percent of businesses have had to lay off at least one employee.

Additional results revealed:

Nearly 45 percent of small businesses are closed.
More than 50 percent of small businesses don’t have the ability for their employees to work from home.
72 percent of surveyed businesses have applied for the Paycheck Protection Program, and 43 percent have applied for other loans or advances.
56 percent of small businesses don’t believe they will be able to implement split shifts to limit exposure to the virus.
35 percent of small businesses would need additional physical space to meet social distancing guidelines.
44 percent of small businesses said they don’t qualify for classification as critical essential infrastructure.

“These are extremely difficult times for Michigan’s small businesses and the results of this survey confirm those facts,” said SBAM CEO Rob Fowler. “SBAM is doing everything we can to help small businesses get through these times so they can hopefully return to their place as the backbone of our economy.”