The Impact of COVID-19 on Small Business Owners Continued Losses and the Partial Rebound in May 2020

This paper provides the first analysis of impacts of the pandemic on the number of active small businesses in the United States using nationally representative data from May 2020. The number of active business owners rebounded 7% since the low in April but remained 15% down from February. Drops in business activity from pre-pandemic levels are disproportionately concentrated among African-American (26%), Latino (19%), Asian (21%), and immigrant (25%) business owners.