The majority of the nation's small business owners are not requiring their employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the results of a survey sent out by the U.S. Census Bureau.

 

Seventy percent of respondents said they did not require their employees to test negative for the virus before coming to work in the last week. Ten percent said they did require it, and the remaining 20 percent said the question was not applicable.  

 

Another question asked business owners if they required proof from their employees of vaccination. Just over 2 percent said they did, while 78 percent said they did not require proof. Over 19 percent said the question didn't apply.

 

Six percent of respondents said they downsized their leased square footage since the pandemic began. Nearly 3 percent said they added more space. Seventy-six percent said there was no change.

 

Nearly 13 percent of respondents said they cancelled planned capital expenditures, while 22 percent opted to postpone. Fifteen percent said they decreased expenditures and 7.5 percent said they introduced new unplanned expenditures. Twenty-one percent said there was no change.

 

And finally, businesses were asked about the effect the pandemic has had on them overall. Nearly 30 percent said it has had a large negative effect, while 43.7 percent said the effect has been moderately negative. Twenty percent said they've experienced little to no effect. Five percent said the pandemic has had a moderately positive effect, and 1.4 percent said it has had a large positive effect.

 

Results varied widely by state, with businesses in more populated states largely reporting more negative results. In New York, for example, nearly 40 percent of businesses said they were severely negatively impacted.

 

The survey was sent out between February 15-21. The Census Bureau said 25,000 businesses responded from the 100,000 the survey was sent out to. A wide variety of industries were surveyed, including construction and manufacturing. All businesses had fewer than 500 employees and only operate out of a single location.

 

See the full results here. Every question/answer can be analyzed by region and industry.