Statistics just published by the Small Business Adminstration Office of Advocacy show that small businesses provide jobs for over half of the private workforce in 2001-2002 (the last year for which there are figures available.)

Research funded by the Office of Advocacy shows that small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all firms. They create more than half of the private non-farm gross domestic product, and they create 60 to 80 percent of the net new jobs.

In 2004, there were an estimated 23,974,500 businesses in the U.S. Of the 5,683,700 firms with employees, 5,666,600 were small firms (fewer than 500 employees). The latest data also show that in 2002 women owned 6,492,795 firms; Blacks owned 1,197,988 firms; Hispanics owned 1,574,159 firms; Asians owned 1,105,329 firms; and American Indians and Alaskan Natives owned 206,125 firms.

In 2004, there was strong growth of 7.3 percent in proprietor’s income - a partial measure of small business income. Business bankruptcies decreased by 2.1 percent and self-employment increased by 2.2 percent. This and other data for each state and territory are available in individual economic profiles on the Office of Advocacy website at www.sba.gov/advo/research/profiles.