Small business is extraordinarily important to the U.S. economy.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, the estimated 29.6 million small businesses in the United States: Employ just over half of the country’s private sector workforce Hire 40 percent of high tech workers, such as scientists, engineers and computer workers. Include 52 percent home-based businesses and two percent franchises. Represent 97.3 percent of all the exporters of goods. Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms Generate a majority of the innovations that come from United States companies
For more statistics, go to http://www.score.org/small_biz_stats.html Or to http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/
Entrepreneur magazine has compiled a range of information about the small business market, such as how many entrepreneurial ventures there are and what type of sales they are generating. To see their articles and data, go to http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/businessstatistics/index115544.html
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, September 2009
Small Business Survival Rates
Small Business Openings & Closings in 2008: There were 627,200 new businesses, 595,600 business closures and 43,546 bankruptcies. Seven out of 10 new employer firms survive at least two years, and about half survive five years. Findings do not differ greatly across industry sectors.
Sources: U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, September 2009 Survival and Longevity in the Business Employment Dynamics Database, Monthly Labor Review, May 2005. Redefining Business Success: Distinguishing Between Closure and Failure, Small Business Economics, August 2003.