An Empirical Review of the Paycheck Protection Program

EventID=114490

To help small businesses retain employees and sustain operations during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a new forgivable loan guarantee program within the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) that delivered almost $800 billion in capital to small businesses. In the two years since its creation, researchers have reviewed and analyzed the loan data to assess the program’s effectiveness in preserving jobs and reaching underserved small business owners. Though the program is still in the forgiveness phase, much of the empirical research shows the program effectively helped save millions of jobs but failed to reach the smallest of businesses early enough to be maximally effective. This hearing will allow Members to hear from government and academic researchers about their findings on the effectiveness of the PPP and lessons learned about the distribution of loan funds.