After designing an “Afrocentric” hairpiece for her horse, Chanel Rhodes set about making colorful horse wigs for sale.

Businesses with 500 employees or fewer — often far fewer — account for about 40% of private payroll in this country. A couple of recent surveys show they’re cautious about the future.

Over the past few years, pay for low-wage workers in the city has risen more than 40%, according to one analysis.

Sometimes the spending is to stay afloat in a competitive market. And sometimes it’s to take advantage of new opportunities.

More than two years after the program kicked off, Marketplace checked in with a few PPP recipients to see how business has been going.

Shipping costs, wait times and sourcing materials are still a big problem for business owners in South Carolina and Calif.

“Sometimes my husband jokes that I’m running a gelato non-profit, and it certainly does feel that way,” said Uli Nasibova, owner of Uli’s Gelato.

Because bigger businesses can offer more.

In the words of one business owner: “Why would I want to go into any type of expansion?”

The Biden administration, pressured to avoid new spending, may reallocate the money to pandemic health care needs.