During the July 4 weekend, President Donald Trump signed a legislation extending the application deadline for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) through August 8. The small business loan program expired on June 30, having awarded $531.5 billion in loans, according to a PPP Report from the Small Business Administration. Prior to the extension of the PPP deadline, the program still had $131 billion in unused funds.
According to the latest PPP Report from the Small Business Administration, which tracks approvals of loans through June 30, 86.5% of PPP loans were for less than $150,000 with an average loan size of $107,000. Two-thirds of the loans through the PPP to small businesses were worth less than $50,000. The construction industry received $64.6 billion in loan approvals across 466,221 applications for an average of $138,560 per loan. Only the healthcare and social assistance industry (506,263 applications; $67.4 billion in loans) and the professional, scientific, and technical services industry (638,221 applications; $66.4 billion in loans) received more federal money from the PPP than the construction industry.
A previous PPP Report issued on April 13 indicated the construction industry led all other subsectors with $40 billion in loan approvals at an average of $296,000. In the month and a half between the first and second report, 351,383 new construction subsector loan applications were processed by the SBA, with an average loan of about $70,000.
Under the PPP, small businesses—companies with 500 employees or fewer—can apply for partially-forgivable loans that can cover operating expenses. The PPP was originally allocated $349 billion as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, but funding ran out within two weeks. The government approved $310 billion in additional funding for the PPP and recently clarified that small businesses can qualify for partial loan forgiveness even if 60% of the PPP loan was not directed towards loan forgiveness. The covered period for loan forgiveness was also extended from eight weeks after the date of loan disbursement to 24 weeks.
