At the U.S. Small Business Administration, our role is to support entrepreneurship and small businesses. We are committed to serving the business community, addressing small business needs, and providing the tools and resources to start, grow, expand and help small businesses to come back stronger than ever before. Our role in supporting businesses changed overnight as COVID-19 measures closed down local main street businesses.

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), passed by Congress at the urging of President Trump, provided much needed assistance to small businesses and their employees. Recently, the NFIB released a national survey updating the utilization of SBA’s assistance to small businesses. The survey found that more than 3 out of 4 businesses applied for the PPP loan. The 77% of small business owners that applied for a PPP, 93% have received the loan.

The survey also found that 92% of the businesses found the PPP program helpful. The findings indicated the vast majority of small business owners (67%) found the loan very helpful in financially supporting their business; another 14% reported that the PPP loan is moderately helpful and 11%, somewhat helpful.

The PPP provides a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll as SBA will forgive PPP loans if employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities. As of May 30, SBA’s PPP had approved loans to over 4.5 million businesses across the U.S. with over $510 billion in support to keep employees on payroll.

These PPP funds are going directly to small business employees. The NFIB survey found that almost one-quarter of borrowers who have received the loan have already used at least 75% of the proceeds with 4% having used the entire loan already.

The average size of these loans is $113,705, demonstrating that the funding was provided to small businesses. This includes local businesses in manufacturing, food and hospitality services, health care, agriculture, and retail, among many others, including self-employed and independent contractors. 

SBA’s financial assistance during these challenging times is providing vital support to many small business owners. As the Regional Administrator for the Pacific Rim for SBA, and as Associate Administrator for the Office of Field Operations for our agency, SBA is working around the clock to support the job-creating entrepreneurs and their families. We encourage you to reach out to SBA to find out about additional resources to support your small business recovery.

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Michael Vallante, U.S. Small Business Administration’s associate administrator for the Office of Field Operations, overseeing the 68 district offices and nine regional administrators; and regional administrator for Region IX, overseeing the agency’s programs and services in California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam