Three years into the pandemic, as large corporations in the United States and abroad recover and learn to proceed with economic ramifications such as inflation, one group hasn’t seen such a quick rebound: small businesses.

Some small businesses were forced to close due to the pandemic and did not experience the “bounceback” many saw in the stock market in 2022. Economics teacher Kristen Blevins said.

“The stock market shows that the economy bounced back pretty quickly but, if you look at just that data, it excludes the small businesses not included in the stock market,” Blevins said.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, this pertains to the 99% of small businesses in the country.

In Dallas, small businesses account for 97% of businesses, according to the Dallas Morning News. Dallas-Fort Worth small businesses received $34 billion in pandemic relief from the Small Business Administration, allowing some of them to stay open. Others had a harder time weathering the storm.

Junior Eva Spak of Eva’s Cookies has faced some challenges after COVID. Because information about her business is spread by word of mouth, sales abruptly halted with quarantine restrictions.

“COVID brought a huge roadblock because it stopped all kinds of sales,” Spak said. Conversely, Junior Ariana Wang, owner of Afterthought Apparel, started her business during the pandemic. However, she has noticed significant price increases coming out of the outbreak.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, economists have warned of the threat of inflation. According to Forbes, businesses started preparing for inflation and/or a recession in 2022.

Inflation reduces small businesses’ cash flow, making it difficult for employers to pay for supplies, limiting demand for products and leading to layoffs.

“We’ve seen a raise in price and have had to raise our prices because of that,” Wang said.

Overall, the impact of the pandemic has been similar to that of the Great Recession over a decade ago. Small business’ median real revenues and profits fell by 33% to 51% between 2007 and 2010, according to the FDIC.

On the positive side, during the pandemic entrepreneurs had more time to further their businesses, with one trend being recreational businesses. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020 was a record year for business creation.