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Survey: Down economy not affecting small business owners’ optimism

Posted on November 15th, 2011 Read time: 1 minutes

A recent survey from TD Bank revealed optimism among small company owners despite the majority of American small businesses expressing pessimism about the overall economy.

The bank polled 300 small business owners and found 69 percent expect to keep staffing levels the same over the next quarter, while 16 percent planned to add at least one full-time or temporary worker position.

"American small business owners are a resilient group," said Fred Graziano, head of regional commercial banking, government banking and small business. "Despite the economic obstacles they continue to face, these findings indicate that small business owners and employees continue to do what they can not just to make ends meet, but to exceed their business goals."

Graziano's sentiments were echoed by the two-thirds of respondents who expected to meet or exceed revenue projections for the upcoming quarter – a 9 percent increase over results from the most recent fiscal quarter.

Furthermore, the National Federation of Independent Business recently released its October Optimism Index, revealing a 1.3-point rise to 90.2, Reuters reports. The NFIB directly attributes the increase to fewer small business owners expecting economic conditions to deteriorate in the coming months.  

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