Costly regulations, which the Congressional Budget Office reports as now exceeding $2 trillion a year, with approximately $200 billion more being added each year, have impacts on jobs, on small businesses, and on the ability to compete around the world.

Paperwork has always been a burden for businesses of all sizes, especially paperwork that is required by various government agencies in response to regulatory requirements. However, while large companies often have well-staffed departments that specialize in the various paperwork requirements imposed on businesses by government agencies, small businesses often find...

Employees who work at small, locally-owned businesses have the highest level of loyalty to their employees, according to researchers at Baylor University. In addition, for rural workers, size and ownership of their company figure even more into their commitment than does job satisfaction.

The "Great Recession" had an impact on the numbers of employees that small businesses hired and anticipated hiring.

Nearly three quarters (73 percent) of U.S. companies expect an increase in their demand for "middle skills" jobs over the next few years and more than half (56 percent) are struggling to find people with the qualifications to fill existing vacancies.

A recent report, published by Intuit, noted that a large percentage of small business owners struggle with financial literacy.

Small businesses are concerned about cyber crime for two reasons. First, their own businesses can be compromised by such events, possibly leading to financial losses and even temporary business shutdowns. Second, private information on their customers can be compromised, which can lead to, at worst, lawsuits by those customers, and,...

Cyber crime is a major concern of small business. Without the internal resources to mitigate threats and the legal protection to pursue data and financial reconciliation, small businesses can be crippled by cyber security exploits.