Big business might grab the headlines, but did you know that 99.9 percent of all businesses in the United States are small businesses? The latest statistics from the U.S. Small Business Administration reports that small businesses employ nearly 59 million people.
Small businesses in America are the engine that runs the country. Here are a few interesting statistics about them.
Job Creation
Small businesses created 8.4 million net new jobs from 2000 to 2017. During this timeframe, small businesses accounted for an impressive 66 percent of the new jobs created in the United states.
More than half of all small business employees surveyed said they are happy with their jobs. These people say the reason is because of company leadership, the ability to have their individual voices heard, and a better work/life balance. The survey was done by Aflac, which also found a few more interesting things about the benefits of being an employee at a small business.
- 45 percent felt that working at a small business is less stressful than working at a large business.
- 87 percent said they think working at a small business is more fun.
- 25 percent said the biggest benefit for them is a flexible work schedule.
- 35 percent said the best part about working for a small business was feeling like they were part of a family.
We often think that small businesses skimp when it comes to the benefits that enterprise level corporations offer. But statistics show that almost 90 percent of small businesses offer some kind of medical health insurance plan. What’s more, more than half of all small businesses say they’re actively looking for ways to offer better benefits packages to increase employee satisfaction.
With this kind of effort going on, it’s not surprising that about 47 percent of small business owners say they expect to see their employee count increase during the next five years.
Who Owns These Small Businesses?
It turns out that women are significant contributors to the overwhelming number of small businesses in America. There are more than 12.3 million women-owned businesses in the United States. Compare that number to 45 years ago. There were only 402,000 women-owned businesses in the country. They employ 9.2 million people.
These businesses contribute $1.9 trillion to the nation’s economy, and the number is increasing as more women decide to start businesses. Since 2007, the number of women-owned businesses throughout the country has increased by 58 percent. Compare that to businesses overall, which grew by only 12 percent.
More than 29 percent of small businesses are owned by minorities. It’s a total of more than 8 million businesses across the country.
- 12 percent are Hispanic-owned
- 10 percent are Black- or African Amercian-owned
- 7 percent are Asian-owned
- 1 percent are American Indian- or Alaska Native-owned
- 0.2 percent are Native Hawaiian- or Pacific Islander-owned
One last statistic – and it’s near and dear to us here at Miracle Truss®. More than 9 percent of all small businesses in the United States are owned by veterans. That’s more than 2.5 million businesses. We’re proud to be a veteran-owned business. Here’s our story.
