Shop small

The White House is urging Americans to shop Saturday for small businesses after nearly two years of a coronavirus pandemic.

Since the first cases of COVID-19 began appearing in the U.S. in 2020, small businesses have worked to change their operations to remain profitable, whether those changes meant changing the interior layout of stores, improving websites or creating unique ways to serve food. while dining indoors was banned.

"Last year, shoppers came together in full force to support their local communities, and Small Business Saturday reached a record high, with reported spending of $19.8 billion," the White House said in a statement Friday. The White House also advertised its efforts to help small businesses under COVID-19 through President Biden's American Bailout Plan a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill and "other traditional lending programs."

"In the year, the SBA, the distribution is close to $416.3 billion in relief for more than six million small businesses that are engaged in the payroll security program ($280 billion), Restauran Recovery Fund (RRF) ($28.6 billion), the closed facilities operator grant ($13.4 billion), the COVID economic injury loan program ($88 billion), as well as targeted and supplemental assistance programs ($6.3 billion), saying the White House.

in FY2021, (SB) Small Business Administration provided $44.8 billion in financing to SBs in the form of more than 61,000 loans.

The White House added that the benefit "directly helped small businesses stay open and keep workers on the payroll, especially those belonging to our low-income populations, including women, people of color, veterans, and rural and low-income communities."

The Federal Reserve released a study in April 2021 that found about 200,000 more U.S. businesses closed in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic than in previous years.

Businesses are also struggling to hire and retain workers: a record 4.4 million workers quit in September, according to the Labor Department's Job Openings and Turnover Study.

The October employment report released earlier this month showed an increase in hiring last month, with employers adding 531,000 workers, up from 312,000 in September. The unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 4.6%.