It’s not a “Late Show With David Letterman” Top Ten list, but in recognition of this week being National Small Business Week, the Small Business Survival Committee, a national small business advocacy organization, is offering up a top ten list of the many benefits that small businesses bring to the U.S. economy.
Top Ten Benefits
From Small Business
10. Small businesses (firms with fewer than 500 employees) account for more than 99 percent of all employers.
9. Small business ownership has been accelerating among women and minorities. Minority-owned firms (excluding C Corporations) accounted for 6.8 percent of businesses in 1982, and grew to 14.6 percent in 1997. Meanwhile, women made up 22 percent of self-employed individuals in 1976, growing to 38 percent in 2000.
8. Small businesses accounted for 96.5 percent of all U.S. exporters in 1998.
7. Small businesses accounted for nearly 98 percent of the growth in the number of U.S. exporters between 1992 and 1998.
6. Small businesses account for 47 percent of sales in the nation.
5. Small businesses generate 51 percent of all U.S. private-sector output.
4. Small businesses produce 55 percent of innovations.
3. Small businesses produce twice as many product innovations and significant innovations as large firms, and obtain more patents per sales dollar than large business.
2. Small businesses employ 51 percent of private-sector workers.
1. Small businesses create the bulk of new jobs. On average, they account for 75 percent of net job creation each year.
Sources: U.S. Small Business Administration and www.tpa.gov.
SBSC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit small business advocacy group with more than 70,000 members across the nation. For more information, please visit SBSC at www.sbsc.org, or call 202/785-0238.