Global State of Small Business Report: Wave IV Update

Overview

 Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) continue to face uncertainty amid the ongoing pandemic, as some countries have witnessed a rise in COVID-19 cases. Within a broader economic environment of reduced demand, 15% of SMBs reported that they were closed in August, down only 1 percentage point since July. At the time of the Wave IV survey, 56% of active SMBs reported lower sales relative to the same month last year, and one-third (33%) of SMBs reported they had reduced employment in response to the pandemic, unchanged from July.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected female business leaders differently from male business leaders. Across all four survey waves, female business leaders reported that they spent more time on domestic tasks and were more likely to care for dependents, and that domestic tasks were impacting their work. Female-led businesses were also more likely to be closed. However, as the stringency of lockdown measures has eased, the difference in closure rates between male and female business leaders has narrowed.

This report presents findings from Wave IV of the 2020 Future of Business Survey, an ongoing data collection collaboration between Facebook, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank, to survey SMBs across the world with Facebook Business Pages. Wave IV of the 2020 Future of Business Survey was conducted from 24-31 August 2020, and captures the views of more than 25,000 business owners, managers, and employees worldwide, in over 50 countries. This follows Wave I of the survey, which was conducted from 28-31 May, Wave II, conducted from 24-30 June, and Wave III, conducted from 24-30 July.

In full: https://dataforgood.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/State-of-Small-Business-Report-Wave-IV-Summary.pdf