confidence among us smallbusiness owners rose in june but remains below the longterm average as inflation and labor concerns continue to weigh on owners the national federation of independent business said tuesday that its smallbusiness optimism index increased to 91 in june from 894 in may well below the indexs 49year average of 98 the index reading was however ahead of the 896 consensus forecast from economists polled by the wall street journal the nfib survey provides a monthly snapshot of small businesses in the us which account for nearly half of private sector jobs inflation and labor quality were tied as the top concerns among owners with 24 reporting each as their single most important challenge the number of owners expecting better business conditions over the next six months improved by 10 percentage points from may to a net negative 40 in june 21 points better than a year earlier the portion of owners who said job openings were hard to fill declined two percentage points to 42 in june but the june reading is still historically high halfway through the year smallbusiness owners remain very pessimistic about future business conditions and their sales prospects said nfib chief economist bill dunkelberg inflation and labor shortages continue to be great challenges for small businesses higher costs associated with inventory troubles labor and energy are still forcing owners to raise prices dunkelberg added