Regulations

·         One-quarter of small employers find government regulations a “very serious” problem in operating their business (Q#1), regulations are a “somewhat serious” problem for another 24 percent of small employers.

·         Roughly half of small employers have experienced an increase in the number of regulations they must comply with in the last three years compared to only 2 percent who experienced a decline (Q#2).

·         The single greatest regulatory problem for small employers is the cost of compliance (Q#3). About 28 percent of small employers cite compliance costs as their largest regulatory issue followed by 18 percent citing the difficulty of understanding what they must do to comply. Seventeen percent are most burdened by the extra paperwork required.

·         The volume of regulations is the largest problem for 55 percent of small employers compared to 37 percent who are most troubled by a few specific regulations coming from one or two sources (Q#11).

·         One-third of small employers have had a government official enter their place of business to inspect or examine their records and/or licenses or otherwise check on their compliance with some government requirement in the last 12 months (Q#18). For larger small business, 57 percent were visited in the last 12 months compared to 28 percent for the smallest ones.

·         Over the last three years, 41 percent of small employers have reached out to talk with someone at a government agency for help complying with a regulation (Q#19). About 19 percent of small employers who contacted a government agency were very satisfied with their experience (Q#20).

·         Almost one-in-ten small employers have been fined, sued or penalized for a regulatory related violation in the last 3 years (Q#21). Larger businesses are twice as likely to have this occur compared to smaller ones.

·         Twenty percent find regulations affecting their business of limited value and 31 percent find them of little or no value for customers or consumers and not worth the cost of compliance (Q#22).