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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Small Business Pay in a Down Economy

Think it’s easy to run a small business – especially in a tough economy? Think again.

Consider an April 24 Wall Street Journal report titled “Entrepreneurs Cut Own Pay to Stay Afloat.” Two key points:

• “A number of small-business owners have stopped paying themselves as they struggle to keep their companies afloat. It's impossible to know just how many owners are affected. But in a sign of the breadth of the trend, 30% of 727 small-business owners and managers surveyed by American Express Co.'s small-business services division said recently that they were no longer taking a salary. That's a troubling sign for small businesses, which have created a significant share of the new U.S. jobs in recent years.”

• “It's not uncommon for owners to give up salaries from time to time to give their companies a temporary lifeline, but business advisers and owners say the prevalence of salary cuts now is unusual even for a recession.”


Being a small business owners often is about sacrifice in order to keep paying employees, or just to keep the business going.

Raymond J. Keating
Chief Economist
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council