New Study: Five Ways the Next Mayor Can Support Small Businesses

NEW YORK, NY — The past year has devastated New York City’s small businesses. Nearly 3,000 businesses permanently closed between March and June of 2020, with thousands more left in limbo. Put another way, New York City lost one out of every eight jobs in 2020 and is not expected to recover its pre-pandemic employment levels until at least the end of 2024. Since small business has always been an engine of growth and renewal, the next mayor should prioritize the needs of entrepreneurs by ensuring the city is lending a helping hand and lowering barriers to small business ventures. A new Manhattan Institute (MI) report by Michael Hendrix, the director of state and local policy, proposes a five-point agenda that the next mayor can use to make the Big Apple the best place to start and run a small business in America.  

His recommendations include:    

• Helping small business tap into pre-existing resources like the Small Business Resource Network;

• Increasing markets for micro-loans;

• Committing to zero barriers for starting a business;

• Creating a one-stop shop for all business regulation, licensing, and permitting;

• Appointing a Startup Advocate.  

While the federal government’s financial relief during the pandemic was necessary, Washington’s money cannot solve all the challenges New York entrepreneurs face. A Thumbtack survey ranked New York City the worst city in America for ease of starting a business. While aid and resources are available, they are often hard to navigate. For this reason, our next mayor should lead the way in being a connector and champion of small business by making the start-up process more efficient and easier to navigate. Studies show that it is not so much the incentives or subsides that a mayor has at their discretion that drives small business success, but their ability to connect the dots among entrepreneurs and the organizations that support them.   

About New York City: Reborn 

New York City: Reborn is a Manhattan Institute project that encompasses research, journalism, and event programming. Through this initiative, the institute convenes business, civic, academic, and civil-society leaders from around the city with MI scholars to discuss issues key to the city’s recovery. Post-coronavirus, MI envisions a growing New York City with a thriving economy, healthy finances, accessible housing, effective infrastructure, flourishing education, safe streets, and increasing competitiveness. New York City: Reborn will help turn that vision into reality. Click here to learn more. 

Click here to read the full report.