Like previous reports, the Q3 2013 LegalZoom/Kauffman Startup Confidence Index sheds light on current entrepreneurial confidence in their own businesses as well as confidence in the economy. Key findings from this quarter’s index include:
- Profitability: 86 percent are confident or very confident that their businesses will be more profitable in the next 12 months.
- Economy: 70 percent are confident the economy will improve or stay the same in the next 12 months, a decrease of 4 percent from the second-quarter survey.
- Hiring: Expectations of hiring additional employees also fell slightly, from 37 percent in Q2 to 36 percent in Q3.
The findings reflect current economic sentiment and it’s reasonable to think that the decrease in economic optimism revealed during Q3 was influenced by the growing tensions in the Middle East, inability to deal with the debt ceiling and the rampant speculation of a government shutdown – all of which were happening in September when the survey was fielded.
