Did you know 70% of women will become pregnant while employed, and 80% of those women will work until the final month of their pregnancy?
Carolina del Norte Small Business Owner Highlight
![Chris Petrella and his wife at this year's 2017 Small Business Policy Forum](https://smallbusinessmajority.org/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog/image.png?itok=pZ1XzLWX)
When Chris Petrella found himself in the dark, he had a bright idea.
While camping with his son in 2012 he realized he didn’t have a way to power his electronics. After that trip, Petrella went to a camping supplies store and inquired about such a device.
“I sketched it out for him [the store clerk]” and he told me it didn’t exist. I did a Google search, and it wasn’t found,” Petrella said. “I thought to myself this is so bizarre because I can picture this thing clearly in my mind.”
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Carolina del Norte Research
![](https://smallbusinessmajority.org/sites/default/files/styles/large_thumbnail/public/concept-images/licensing-poll-800.png?itok=4SJfeBv0)
Small Business Majority’s new poll of North Carolina small business owners reveals strong support for legislative solutions that would remove barriers for justice-impacted individuals by making reforms to occupational licensing and debt-based driver’s license suspensions. These politically diverse small business owners believe these measures would enable employers to tap into an underutilized workforce and open up opportunities for entrepreneurship.
![](https://smallbusinessmajority.org/sites/default/files/styles/large_thumbnail/public/concept-images/licensing-poll-800.png?itok=4SJfeBv0)
While small businesses employ nearly half (46.4%) of the private workforce in the United States, many are struggling to hire and retain a ready workforce. Our poll of Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas small business owners reveals strong support for legislative solutions that would remove barriers for justice-impacted individuals by making reforms to occupational licensing and debt-based driver’s license suspensions. These politically diverse small business owners believe these measures would enable employers to tap into an underutilized workforce and open up opportunities for entrepreneurship.
Small businesses in North Carolina are still struggling to hire and retain a ready workforce, persistent challenges in the wake of the pandemic.