Small and mid-sized business owners in Alabama strongly support vaccination for COVID-19 and plan to encourage their employees to get the shots in an effort to boost local economic recovery, according to the PNC Alabama small business owners survey released today.

More than half (57 percent) of Alabama businesses surveyed will require employees to get vaccinated, with more than a quarter (28 percent) expected to provide assistance or vaccination education.

Lower sales and higher operating costs are squeezing the profits of local business owners, with more than half (68 percent) reporting significant business challenges and more than a third (38 percent) stating they can only continue to operate up to a year in the current economic conditions. Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding has offered an essential pipeline for business leaders, with more than half (51 percent) of local respondents stating they receive PPP funding in 2020 and more than 4 in 10 considering new 2021 PPP loans extremely important for their business.

“The spring 2021 results show that while a significant number of Alabama’s small and medium-sized business owners in the market have faced challenges to stay open, the majority of respondents believe an increase in the pace of vaccinations and anticipated fiscal stimulus will allow for more economic activity in the year ahead,” said Abbey Omodunbi, PNC economist for Alabama. “Longer-term, Alabama’s economic growth will likely improve as the U.S. economy expands, but performance will vary widely across the state as business owners continue to face pricing and hiring challenges.”

Other key survey findings include:

Left Behind: Small business owners are not yet feeling part of the broader economic recovery. Their optimism is growing about the U.S. economy and their local economies, but slower growing when it comes to their own business.
Back to Work: While the pandemic necessitated a major shift to work-from-home policies, these are unlikely to remain permanent. Less than half (30 percent) of Alabama businesses reported shifting to work-from-home, and only a fraction (5 percent) anticipate the change to be long-lasting, while 69 percent expect it to be temporary with the remainder unsure.
PPP Remains Critical for Survival: More than four in 10 businesses (51 percent) received PPP funding in 2020; another 5 percent applied for but did not receive the funding, while the remainder of businesses did not apply. More than 8 in 10 (82 percent) of those who received a PPP loan considered it extremely important. More than four in 10 business leaders (44 percent) considering obtaining a new 2021 PPP loan view it as extremely important for their business.
New Tech Provides Lifeline: More than half of business leaders (58 percent) report increased use of one or more technologies since the outbreak began. More than a third (49 percent) applied new technologies to improve the sales process in the form of electronic or touchless payment systems (37 percent) or electronic/website-enabled sales (30 percent).

The PNC Economic Outlook survey was conducted by telephone from Jan. 2 to Feb. 2 among small and mid-sized businesses with self-reported revenue of $100,000 to $250 million. 500 interviews were conducted nationally. Sampling error for the nationwide results is +/- 4.4 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.