America’s economy is booming—if you’re big enough, The Wall Street Journal writes.
While corporate giants are riding record profits and the artificial intelligence rally, many small businesses are quietly cutting back. Firms with fewer than 50 workers have shed jobs steadily over the past six months, trimming 120,000 positions in November alone, even as large employers continue to hire.
From gourmet popcorn shops in Iowa to screen printing studios in St. Louis and neighborhood bars in Los Angeles, owners describe the same pressures: tariffs that raise the cost of imports, consumers growing more cautious, and thinner margins that leave little room for error. Federal Reserve Beige Book data shows higher-end shoppers remain resilient, while everyday consumer spending is slipping—widening a divide that now mirrors the gap between wealthy and lower-income households.
Small businesses still employ nearly half of America’s workforce and account for more than 40% of GDP, but analysts say they lack the cash reserves, financing access and pricing power of large corporations. The result is two economic realities—Wall Street soaring and Main Street struggling to stay afloat.
