The most recent data from the SBA shows that small business is still driving the economy, employing 50.6% of the entire US workforce. The SBA also has a web page that allows you to really dig into the small business statistics from varying sources, looking at industry sectors, number of firms by size (revenues and employment), birth and death rates of small business, and so forth. It also has data by state and metro areas. If you are into data, this is a fascinating site.
Dr Jeff Cornwall
Co-founder of The Entrepreneurial Mind, serial entrepreneur and professor of entrepreneurship.
I have a question.
In a footnote to one of the tables it says that
Joel Popkin estimated that small business acounted for roughly 52% of gdp.
While small business accounts for about half of
employment the recent SBA-Census of small business finds that in firms with over 500 employees payrolls per employee were roughly 25% higher then in smaller firms. Moreover the survey also found that average receipts per employee were 59% larger in large firms then in small firms.
This data suggest that output per employee in large business is much greater then in small firms. But if this is true and employment is about the same then small firms should account for a much smaller share of dgp then the popkin estimate of 52%.
Can you explain this apparent discrepancy?
It’s great to see that small businesses are making this big of an impact on our economy. This gives consumers more options when choosing products and motivates other entreprenuers to start their own companies. Thanks for the link and fascinating info!