Three out of four small-business owners in rural America say revenue is back to pre-pandemic levels or stronger than it was before the coronavirus hit, according to a newly released survey. Yet slightly more than half of rural entrepreneurs said they felt somewhat or extremely negative about the economy, said the “Megaphone of Main Street” report.
The rural population of roughly 60 million is stagnant and 36 percent of small business owners said there were few qualified workers in their area and said their top challenge is finding customers. Inflation and supply chain disruptions also were major concerns, said the report published by SCORE, a network of volunteer business mentors.
Nearly one in five rural entrepreneurs listed access to high speed internet service as a challenge, compared to one in 10 metropolitan business owners. The report was based on responses from 3,345 participants in a SCORE survey, including 882 who said they were in rural America.