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November Small Business Optimism Rises Amid Improved Sales Outlook, NFIB Says

2:50 PM ET 12/09/2025 - MT Newswires

The NFIB small business optimism index rose to 99 last month from October's 98.2. The consensus was for a 98.3 reading in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

A seasonally adjusted net 15% of small business owners anticipated higher real sales volumes in November, up nine points from the month prior -- the main reason behind the rise in overall optimism, the NFIB survey showed.

"Although optimism increased, small business owners are still frustrated by the lack of qualified workers," NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said. "Despite this, more firms still plan to create new jobs in the near future."

Some 21% of respondents cited labor quality as their single most important problem, down six points sequentially. About 15% reported inflation as their key concern, up three points from October and the second-biggest issue, according to the report.

About 33% of small business owners reported job openings they could not fill in November, up one point from October and the first increase since June, the NFIB said.

Recent labor market indicators have pointed to "modest progress," Ksenia Bushmeneva, an economist at TD Economics, said in a report published Tuesday. "Still, job openings remain relatively low and have generally been on a downward trend since the start of the year, reinforcing the 'low hire, low fire' theme."

A net 34% of respondents said they were raising average selling prices, up 13 points from October, marking the highest reading since March 2023 and the largest monthly increase in the survey's history, the NFIB said.

"Inflationary pressures intensified last month," Bushmeneva wrote. "While one month does not make a trend, the large jump in the share of businesses raising prices in November cannot be fully dismissed."

The uncertainty index rose three points sequentially to 91 in November, driven by a higher number of small business owners reporting uncertainty about capital expenditure plans over the next three to six months, the NFIB said.