The public and CEO panelists are likewise at odds about how rosy a future small business can expect. A two-thirds majority of the public is convinced that small business will expand its share of the economy, but CEOs are not so sure. Although the public is sanguine about the relative growth of small business, the public is not convinced that small business offers the best setting for employees in all circumstances. Small business wins high marks for providing a pleasant work environment and effective decision-making but gets low marks for job opportunities and financial rewards. But, fewer than a third choose small business as the best location for job opportunities or financial rewards.
Age is a huge factor in how people assess small business.
Among each successively older generation, small business is less apt to be seen as expanding its share of the economy but more apt to be seen as a good place for income. Older cohorts may be less sanguine about the prospects for growth of small business because they have had a chance to track companies over extended periods of time and notice that few of the truly small companies become truly large ones. Why older cohorts are more sanguine about the financial rewards of small business is unclear. Perhaps they have had more opportunity to observe the financial rewards available to partners and owner-managers. Perhaps they are more alert to the potential tax advantages available to small businesses.