State gets thumbs-down when it comes to Rhode Island jobs and small businesses
Posted on May 20, 2012
Rhode Island scored the worst when it came to small business owners and jobs, according to a new survey.
Thumbtack.com, in partnership with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, conducted a two-month survey of over 6,000 small business owners nationwide. The data shines a new light on the United States’ business regulatory climate and the nation’s economic health.
Some findings include:
- Small businesses said licensing requirements were nearly twice as important as tax-related regulations in determining their state or city government’s overall business-friendliness.
- An important predictor of small business friendliness was whether small business owners are aware of the state or local government offering training programs for small businesses.
- Among small business owners nationally, women were 9% more likely than men to feel supported by their state governments.
“Asking entrepreneurs to rank state friendliness to their businesses is a powerful resource for helping policymakers understand the needs of business owners and for helping aspiring founders understand the full dimensions of their business environment,” said Dane Stangler, director of research at the Kauffman Foundation.
“Six thousand small business owners have told an unusually nuanced story about what they value in their state or city government,” said Sander Daniels, co-founder of Thumbtack.com. “Although Texas and Idaho clearly come out on top as the nation’s friendliest states towards small business, entrepreneurs value a lot more than just tax-related regulations. Easy-to-understand licensing regulations and well-publicized training programs are often overlooked as critical tools necessary to support small business.”