SurePayroll: hot political issues low on entrepreneurs' radar

GLENVIEW - Small business owners are not heavily focused on such hot button political issues as minimum wage increases, health care reform and immigration, according to the June 2016 SurePayroll Small Business Scorecard.

When asked to name their biggest challenges, 22 percent said slow economic growth nationwide; 18 percent said struggles in the local economy; 17 percent said there are not enough qualified candidates to hire as top issues.

"The issues that might get a lot of attention politically are not necessarily the main focus for a small-business owner trying to support his or her family," said SurePayroll General Manager Andy Roe. "At the end of the day, they need to hire good people and generate cash. Entrepreneurs are telling us some of these more controversial issues just aren't as relevant to their businesses."

Meanwhile, after the first half of this year, 62 percent are reporting a profit; 87 percent expect to be profitable in the second half of this year; and 47 percent are on pace to beat revenues from the prior year.

"These numbers are strong, but essentially flat from a year ago," Roe said. "You'd like to see more growth, but expectations are fairly high, so we'll see how the rest of 2016 plays out."