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Bloomberg
About 40% of US small businesses intend to raise selling prices by 10% or more amid decades-high inflation, according to a survey from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).
Overall, more than two-thirds of the respondents plan to increase prices in the next three months, according to the survey, conducted between April 14 and April 17 among 540 business owners. Almost half of the small firms are planning increases of 4% to 9%.
The report suggests that many businesses are planning increases that are above the current rate of national inflation — the consumer-price index rise 8.5% in March, the most since 1981. Nearly nine in ten employers in the NFIB survey said they’ve had to raise prices to absorb some of the costs.
Inflation started to show up as an issue in the survey in the summer of 2021, the NFIB said, and it’s a novel challenge to entrepreneurs who started a business after the 1990s. The NFIB found that price increases are having a “substantial†impact on 62% of the respondents and a “moderate†impact on almost a third of them. No one said inflation had no impact on their business. Small employers have few options at their disposal other than passing higher input costs on to customers, according to the NFIB, a trade association that defends the interests of small businesses.
In the survey, the main drivers of higher expenses cited by owners were the cost of inventory, supplies and material, as well as fuel.
US Hospitals Struggle to Absorb
Pandemic-Era Rising Costs
US hospitals are struggling to absorb rising costs for labor, drugs and supplies as the pandemic drags on, the American Hospital Association said Monday in a report.
Labour costs per patient jumped by 19% in 2021 from 2019, and supplies rose by over 20% per patient during that period, according to the report. Nursing expenses shifted heavily towards travel nurses. The travellers’ share of nursing budgets rose to 39% in 2022 from 5% in 2019.
The federal government has allotted more than $170 billion to help hospitals through the pandemic, but many say they are still losing money, especially after the omicron wave earlier this year. HCA Healthcare Inc. cut its annual adjusted earnings forecast on Friday amid higher labour costs, sending shares 22% lower.
“The dramatic rise in costs of labour, drugs, supplies and equipment continue to put enormous pressure on our ability to provide care to our patients and communities,†AHA Chief Executive Officer Rick Pollack said in the statement. The association represents nearly 5,000 hospitals nationwide.
In Massachusetts, the state hospital association detailed its own financial woes, reporting that in January and February, as omicron hit, hospitals lost $430 million overall, despite federal relief money.
In January, 42 of 47 hospitals surveyed lost money and February was almost as bad, the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association reported. Governor Charlie Baker is proposing an additional injection of $250 million in federal money for distressed hospitals.