(Gallup) – Small businesses and startups are the crux of economic growth in the United States. Gallup continually collects and analyzes data to understand the attitudes of small-business owners and the current barriers to job growth and startups. On March 4, I testified before Congress about our ongoing efforts in this arena. What follows is my testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Small Business in a hearing titled, Building an Opportunity Economy: State of Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

The Importance of Jobs and Gallup’s Tracking of the Jobs Situation

Gallup completed its first nationally representative survey of the world in 2006. Our biggest finding from this study was that what the whole world wants is a good job. This finding compelled us to more thoroughly study the global jobs situation. Gallup now quantifies the prevalence and quality of jobs in more than 140 countries each year. Gallup also tracks employment daily in the United States, surveying roughly 30,000 adults per month and more than 350,000 people per year.

The State of the U.S. Economy

There are a number of signs from Gallup’s data that the U.S. economy has been improving since the recession: Americans’ attitudes toward the economy are improving, self-reported discretionary spending is steadily increasing and people are reporting that hiring is outpacing firing in their workplaces. Despite this encouraging news, job creation remains a problem.

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