Small Business Labs

JANUARY 28, 2016

Vanity Fair's The Obama Administration Is Finally Getting Serious About the On-Demand Economy covers the plan by the Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to run the contingent worker supplement as part of the May 2017 current population survey.    In the forecasting world, we call this a signal.

2005 100

2005 2017 UPS 100

Small Business Labs

MAY 10, 2011

You many have noticed that different surveys show very different small business social media usage rates. For example, the Wall Street Journal article Facebook Tops for Small Business reported on a survey that found small businesses quite positive about social media.    Another point of view comes from Citibank.

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Social Media 2011 Facebook AT&T 100

Small Business Labs

JULY 26, 2021

The New York Times article More phone calls, less shopping: how the pandemic changed American lives, down to the minute examines data from the American Time Use survey to show the changes in how Americans spent their time last year.   This is up from 8 hours in 2019.

2019 167

2019 2020 Phones UPS 167

Small Business Labs

JANUARY 3, 2019

According to a recent Job Creators Network Foundation survey , "Sixteen-percent of Americans say they are likely to start a new business in 2019." This is an example of the false positive problem with survey data.    The false positive problem crops up in many surveys (including ours). Most won't. 

2019 193

2019 2016 Networking UPS 193

Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 10, 2020

Our research on small business formation shows about 9% of those who say in surveys they plan to start a small/solopreneur business over the next 2-3 years in our surveys end up doing so.    So our data is pretty consistent with the Census.

2008 273

2008 2009 Interviewing UPS 273

Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020

According to a survey by the HR consulting firm Mercer , 73% of the firms surveyed plan to implement a hybrid work environment that includes both in-office and remote work. And a Gartner study found that 82% of executives surveyed plan on allowing employees to work remotely at least some of the time. 

AT&T 213

AT&T Environment UPS 213

Small Business Labs

MARCH 21, 2012

The recent Global Coworking Unconference Conference left many with the same impression it did Shareable's Neil Gorenflo - that " coworking's all grow'd up "   GigaOm's Jessica Stillman echoes this view, writing in her article The conversion to coworking 2.0  Only 27% do not plan to expand in 2012.

UPS 100

UPS 2012 Agencies Mentoring 100

Small Business Labs

APRIL 23, 2019

The Federal Reserve recently released its 2019 Small Business Credit Survey.  This is up from just 19% in 2016.   A key finding is the use of online lending sources by small businesses is rapidly expanding. 

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Finance 2018 2019 2016 216

Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 16, 2021

   The report covers the results of an in-depth survey of Americans who earn money from the gig economy, which Pew defined somewhat narrowly.  The Pew Research Center, a highly regarded non-profit, non-partisan D.C. think tank, recently released The State of Gig Work in 2021 report.  

2021 233

2021 Restaurants Policies UPS 233

Small Business Labs

APRIL 2, 2019

The study is based on a survey of 2,675 adult Americans with a full-time job at companies with at least two employees. It shows that 52% of the full-time employees surveyed said they plan to postpone their retirement due to their financial situation. This is up from just 37% in 2015. MetLife recently released their 2019 U.S.

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Retirement 2019 2015 AT&T 138

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 20, 2019

  As a follow-up, the chart below (click to enlarge) is from the Freshbooks 2019 Self-Employment in America Report. The main reason, as found out in the survey, was control over career. Our article yesterday covered a study showing how work autonomy and control resulted in mental health benefits for the self-employed. 

2019 170

2019 Health UPS 170

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 10, 2020

"Armchair digital nomads" is the term we use to describe the millions of Americans who aren’t currently digital nomads but tell us in surveys they plan on becoming one.      We call them armchair digital nomads because in the past the vast majority who say this have not followed through. 

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2019 Travel Social Media Time Zones 266

Small Business Labs

JUNE 29, 2020

.  But we're now seeing firms and organizations further up the value chain from these industries get hit.  The NLC survey shows that 74% of cities have started to cut their budgets, with 20% reporting across-the-board reductions.

Budget 264

Budget Agencies Expenses Travel 264

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 14, 2017

This is the second in a series of reports based on their 2016 small business credit survey.  Startup firms make up about one third of small employer firms.   We say "possibly" because the survey didn't go into detail on how much contract workers are working at these firms.

2016 170

2016 AT&T UPS 170

Small Business Labs

MARCH 13, 2018

   NPR-Edison’s survey also found the yin and yang.    Key quote on the positives of gig work from their article  What Makes Gig Worker Anxious : "Our survey finds that gig workers highly value setting their own schedule and being their own boss." " So yes, gig workers experience more anxiety.

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UPS 145

Small Business Labs

JANUARY 29, 2019

With most of the online gig platforms you can sign up and be earning money in just a few days or less. One recent survey showed 54 percent of Americans say they would have trouble paying their bills if they were forced to go without more than two paychecks and 20% say they would have trouble if they missed one paycheck. 

Skills 178

Skills Expenses AT&T Learning 178

Small Business Labs

JANUARY 3, 2017

" As the chart below shows (click to enlarge), there were about 350,000 manufacturing firms with no employees other than the owner in 2014, up almost 17% from 2004. Federal Reserve study  2015 Small Business Credit Survey: Report on Non-Employer Firms  also found a high rate of contract worker usage by non-employers.

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2004 2016 2014 2015 185

Small Business Labs

MAY 1, 2018

As the study chart below shows (click to enlarge), very few (only about 6%) of the SMB's surveyed see automation technology, including A.I., Despite positive attitudes toward automation, a significant number of small business are not set up to take advantage of it. A key study finding is despite all the noise about A.I.

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Customer Service Forms Learning Management 162

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 23, 2021

This topic has come up because  last week a California judge ruled that Proposition 22, a ballot measure passed in last November's elections that allowed rideshare and delivery companies to treat their drivers as independent workers was unconstitutional.   But some do.

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Legal UPS 119

Small Business Labs

FEBRUARY 23, 2017

million Americans are working in the on-demand economy, up from 3.2   For this year's study we surveyed 6,247 independent workers who find work assigments via twelve on-demand economy and online talent marketplaces. Federal Reserve survey reported encountering a financial emergency. million this time last year.

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Kelly Services 2016 2015 Medical 134

Small Business Labs

JUNE 29, 2015

The American Institute of CPA's just released the results of an interesting survey looking at major life event decision making by Americans.    The  survey found that half of American adults (51 percent) have delayed at least one important life decision in the last year due to financial reasons.

2007 100

2007 UPS 100

Small Business Labs

JULY 1, 2019

Want Your Business to Thrive - Cultivate Your External Talent : The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and Success Factors teamed up for study, which surveyed independent workers, managers who hire independent works and HR employees.  But it's nice to see the HR world catching up.  

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Retirement 2019 2016 Collaborate 151

Small Business Labs

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

According to a survey from the Global Business Travel Association  (GBTA), half of corporate travel policies allow for the use of ride-sharing services such as Uber or Lyft. That’s up from 44% just six months ago and less than 10% 4 years ago. This data is hardly surprising.

2014 100

2014 Travel Policies UPS 100

Small Business Labs

JULY 29, 2014

.   As the article's title states, 87% of the surveyed freelancers reported having more than one source of income. But its been very hard to quantify this information via surveys.  Because of this, survey questions asking about 2nd jobs tend to under report side gig activity.

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Lifestyle Interviewing Goals UPS 100

Small Business Labs

JANUARY 26, 2015

Uber released a survey of their drivers last week. Key quote: About 160,000 drivers have fired up Uber on their phone since 2012. Newsweek attacked the survey methodology, which I think is unfair. All surveys have issues and problems. But overall the methods used in this survey look sound. It's about 0.1

2014 100

2014 2012 Phones UPS 100

Small Business Labs

JUNE 22, 2017

This Study Sums It Up in 1 Sentence says Millennials want: "Freelance flexibility with full-time stability" This is, of course, not just what Millennials want. The study the article refers to is Deloitte's 2017 Millennial Survey. article What Do Millennials Want From Their Employers, Exactly? It's what everybody wants.

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2017 Payroll Stress AT&T 133

Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 7, 2017

.  Modern Farmer's article on the study  nicely covers the demographics of young farmers:  The demographic picture of the survey is interesting: 60 percent are women, 69 percent have degrees beyond high school, 75 percent didn’t grow up in a farm family, and 75 percent describe their farms as “sustainable.” (63

Networking 178

Networking UPS 178

Small Business Labs

JULY 26, 2016

The Wall Street Journal's Job Satisfaction Hits a 10-Year High—But It’s Still Below 50%  covers the results from The Conference Board's annual job satisfaction survey.  workers surveyed reported they are satisfied with their jobs. An improving economy makes work better for everyone.

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2016 2011 2010 UPS 100

Small Business Labs

JUNE 12, 2017

The map's horizontal axis is based on survey of "members of the Traction Network (mostly CIOs, CTOs, and senior IT execs in the enterprise)"  They were asked to rank the importance of a wide range of technologies. .    Click here to sign up for the Traction Technology Partners newsletter.

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Forms Networking Goals AT&T 129

Small Business Labs

APRIL 25, 2017

This is up from 15.8 A Bloomberg Government survey found that 77% of direct sellers are highly satisfied.    A couple of other interesting data points on the direct selling industry are women make up 77% of sellers and wellness products are driving the growth of the industry (see chart below; click to enlarge).

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Purchasing 2010 AT&T UPS 162

Small Business Labs

FEBRUARY 20, 2018

The study also surveyed people who are currently self-employed. But it still adds up to a lot of people.  This despite the UK having a very robust traditional job market, with the unemployment rate at a decades low of 4.3%. They found that 90 percent of the self-employed said they enjoyed being their own boss.

UPS 145

UPS 145

Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 21, 2019

  We also found 41% of the workers surveyed had faced a financial shock over the prior year. See the Aspen Institute's write up of the study for more details.    These findings are important because policymakers tend to focus on long term, full-time gig workers. 

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2017 Medical Management Policies 110

Small Business Labs

MAY 29, 2018

  Key quote on The Fed's findings on the size of the gig economy: "Overall in 2017, 31 percent of all adults engaged in gig work in the month before the survey, up slightly from 28 percent in 2016." " As with all studies, it's important to know how the gig economy is defined.

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2017 2016 Finance AT&T 143

Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 22, 2016

Their survey asks: "In the last year, did you earn money by selling something online?" " 18% of adult Americans surveyed said yes. In fact, 74% of the people who responded yes to this question said they had sold used or 2nd hand goods in a follow-up question.  8% of the survey respondents said yes to this.

2016 100

2016 2009 Forms UPS 100

Small Business Labs

MARCH 24, 2015

  In our most recent survey of people with 2nd jobs, about 20% of these "side giggers" said "learning new skills" was the reason they had a 2nd job.   We don't have historical survey data on this.   We don't have historical survey data on this.

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Training 2008 2015 2020 100

Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

  A recent survey by Mom Corps as reported by Business News Daily found that nearly half of the repondents would give up an average of nearly 10 percent of their salary for a more flexible work schedule. Today it seems it's all about flexibility. Companies want flexibility too. 69% - more flexibility.

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Agencies Salary Interviewing AT&T 100

Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Intuit recently announced QuickBooks Capital , a new small business lending product that provides users of QuickBooks access to small business loans up to about $35,000. According to the Federal Reserve of New York 2016 Credit Survey: Report on Startup Firms , 70% of young businesses say they need funding to grow.

Learning 150

Learning 2016 AT&T UPS 150