Ann Arbor, Mich. — Small-business growth in Michigan has stalled, Small Business Association of Michigan CEO Brian Calley said Tuesday, pointing to regulations, tariffs and high energy costs squeezing owners from both sides.
Calley said owners feel pressure to hold prices down because customers cannot pay more, while their own costs keep rising. Many would like to expand to outpace those costs, he said, but the cost of growth now exceeds the cash flow growth would bring, so firms wait or pass up opportunities.
He cited higher diesel prices after Middle East conflict and the trade fight with Canada as drivers of raw-material costs especially hard on Michigan industries tied to cross-border commerce. Entrepreneurs will adapt, he said, but the volume of new state and federal rules makes navigation difficult.
Calley urged the Legislature to let small firms band together to self-insure health coverage the way large employers do, and to carve exemptions from the state’s paid sick-time law for the smallest employers.
Section: More Detroit MI business news
