One-third of small businesses harmed by shutdown: poll

More than one-third of small-business owners said the recent partial government shutdown harmed their firms, according to a CNBC and SurveyMonkey poll released Monday.

Thirty-seven percent of the 2,200 small business owners polled said the 35-day shutdown, which ended Jan. 25, hurt their bottom lines. Thirty-five percent of respondents reported a decline in sales during that period.

Thirteen percent said they lost a contract with a federal agency during the shutdown, while 10 percent said they lost access to loans from the Small Business Administration.

{mosads}The survey was conducted Jan. 28 through Feb. 4, shortly after President Trump and Democratic congressional leaders agreed to fund the affected part of the government through Feb. 15.

The poll results come just five days before 25 percent of the federal government is slated to close again unless lawmakers can agree on spending legislation that Trump will sign into law.

A bipartisan, bicameral committee is racing to strike an agreement that would bolster border security.

Trump, who has requested $5.7 billion for the wall, has heaped scorn on the dealmaking process and raised doubts about whether he would accept a compromise agreement by the committee that doesn’t include wall funding. 

Roughly 800,000 federal workers will be furloughed or required to work without pay if another shutdown begins on Saturday. Many of those employees have not yet received the back pay owed for the most recent closure, and it’s unclear if contractors will get any compensation for lost work.

On a broader level, communities close to federal hubs or with high concentrations of government workers would be the hardest hit areas.

Public and private sector economists have said that while the U.S. economy should recover most of the $11 billion lost during the recent shutdown, another lapse in funding could pose serious long-term consequences.

A second protracted shutdown could also depress confidence in the economy, which has fallen slightly after a year of trade battles and financial market volatility.

One-fifth of respondents in the CNBC/SurveyMonkey poll said they had “major” concerns about another shutdown, while 53 percent said a recession was “very” or “somewhat likely.”