Right Place, Right Time

摘要

During the explosive' 90s, M. Ann Padilla got orders for thousands of temporary office workers from such pillars of the Denver business community as AT&T, Qwest Communications International, and Adolph Coors. But those aren't her most important clients anymore; they've cut thousands of workers locally. Now, Padilla says, small business is what's keeping her Sunny Side Inc./Temp Side going. Orders are coming from companies with 10 to 100 employees: construction contractors, distributors, nurseries. And they're picking up speed. "For the past two years, the orders were short-term," says Padilla, who owns the company. "Now they keep extending them." You wouldn't know it from reading the headlines about corporate downsizing, but across the U.S., small business is quietly holding its own―and in some cases even thriving. Small businesses have several things going for them. First, they're concentrated in the service sector of the economy, which is healthier than manufacturing. Second, they have picked up work from big companies that are outsourcing peripheral functions in order to save money and focus on core businesses. Third, many of the Bush tax cuts benefit small biz. Fourth, easy money from the Federal Reserve has lowered the cost of 1- to 3-year bank loans, which many small businesses depend on. And finally, small business is benefiting from the growth acceleration of the overall U.S. economy.