I am teaching a class this fall in which the students are sent out in teams to consult with small business owners mostly from the inner city. My students are doing wonderful work with these entrepreneurs and seeing first hand how free enterprise can make a difference in the economy of the heart of Nashville.
A new study published by the SBA documents the dynamics of America’s inner city economies, which are larger and more active than is generally understood.
State of the Inner City Economies: Small Businesses in the Inner City reports that small businesses are the greatest source of net new employment in inner cities. They comprise more than 99 percent of inner city business establishments and they generate 80 percent of the total employment in those areas. In all, America’s inner city small businesses employ about nine million people, or eight percent of the U.S. private workforce.
“This report demonstrates that local entrepreneurs are not only the backbone of inner city economies but their strongest source of new jobs,” said Steve Adams Region I Advocate for the Office of Advocacy and formerly the Director of the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship at the Pioneer Institute. “Policy makers should take note of these findings showing that supporting new and established entrepreneurs in inner cities should take priority in their urban development strategies.”
The report notes that inner city businesses are similar to business in the rest of their Metropolitan Statistical Areas, exhibiting similar startup and bankruptcy rates. It also found that inner city job growth was concentrated in service industries, mirroring the trends in other areas.
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