Thumbtack: Providence joins R.I. among least friendly for small biz

PROVIDENCE received an F for overall small business friendliness in Thumbtack's annual survey. / COURTESY THUMBTACK
PROVIDENCE received an F for overall small business friendliness in Thumbtack's annual survey. / COURTESY THUMBTACK

PROVIDENCE – Providence is among the least friendly cities for small business, according to Thumbtack’s fourth annual Small Business Friendliness Survey released Tuesday.
Small businesses gave Providence an F for overall business friendliness, but a B+ for ease of hiring, its best grade. This is the second year in a row that Providence received an F for business friendliness in the survey.
Rhode Island’s capital city received a D for ease of starting a business, and a D+ for licensing, tax code and zoning. It received Bs for training and networking programs as well as health and safety.
A total of 115 small business owners in Providence responded to the survey, as well as 86 in the state outside the city.
Respondents were asked to rate their city and state government across several policy factors. Approximately 18,000 small business owners across the country participated in the survey
Thumbtack also said that Providence small businesses felt somewhat positive in August, placing them 41st nationwide.
“Small business owners on Thumbtack have consistently told us that they welcome support from their government but are frequently frustrated by unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles,” Jon Lieber, chief economist of Thumbtack.com, said in a statement. “Given that there is a crisis of entrepreneurship in the United States, seen in the broad collapse of self-employment across industries and states, creating the right environment for business startups is more important than ever.”
Small businesses in Manchester, N.H.; Dallas; Richmond, Va.; Austin, Texas; and Knoxville, Tenn., gave their cities the highest ratings.
But Providence joined New Haven, Conn.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Albuquerque, N.M., and Hartford, Conn., in the list of the worst¬-performing cities as rated by their small business owners.
Small businesses in Texas and Utah rated their states in the top five every year the survey has run, while California and Rhode Island have been rated in the bottom five every year, Thumbtack said.
As a result of Rhode Island’s poor showing on the survey over the past few years, Lt. Gov, Daniel J. McKee last month said he reached out to Thumbtack. The company will work with the state, making specific suggestions for how to disseminate information that might make the state friendlier to small business.
Rhode Island received an F in six out of 11 categories in the statewide survey released in mid-August.

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