Global State of Small Business Report: Wave II

We collaborated with The World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to create the Global State of Small Business Report, which includes monthly updates on how SMBs are faring. Last month Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg shared the first installment in the series of reports, which gave us a sobering first look at the impact of the coronavirus on SMBs around the world.

Today we’re sharing the Wave II update of the Global State of Small Business Report — the first monthly update since our initial launch. The update is based on the second wave of new data on the state of SMBs collected from June 24 - 30, 2020, capturing the views of 25,000 businesses in 50 countries. The new data also provides a comparison to the Wave I survey that we conducted from May 28 - 31, 2020 and gives us some cause for optimism: SMB closure rates fell by eight percentage points compared to our May findings, from 26% to 18%. And while the proportion of operational SMBs that reported a year-on-year decline in sales remains distressing at 57%, it has decreased by five percentage points from May to June.

As lockdowns have been lifted, gender disparity seems to have narrowed, with the discrepancy between male and female-led SMBs in aggregate falling seven percentage points to one percentage point.

Despite the progress, we know there are still huge challenges for workers, as a considerable proportion of operational SMBs have reduced employment in response to the pandemic. The number of SMBs that have said they reduced employment is only down two percentage points from the Wave I survey. Cash flow and lack of demand remain the most commonly referenced ongoing challenges by business leaders, highlighting the need for further financial support to help alleviate the immediate cost pressures that SMBs face.

At the time of survey, 19% of surveyed businesses were in receipt of financial assistance, which is a reduction of four percentage points compared to Wave I. The financial support SMBs receive — government loans and grants support were the most common form of support cited — helps drive economic recovery as businesses can retain employees and adapt business models, hence fostering long-term economic growth.