BCT Editorial – 2/24/10

This page was last updated on February 24, 2010.

Myth busters; Editorial; Beaver County Times; February 24, 2010.

I don’t know what the point of the editorial is. Is the editorial questioning the importance of small business to the U.S. economy? I noted the editorial appears to treat “small business” and “employer-owned business” as equivalent. According to a U.S. Small Business Administration FAQ of September 2009, a small business is “an independent business having fewer than 500 employees.” That said, the number varies by industry and in some industries the size is defined by revenue. According to census data, about 98% of small businesses have fewer than 100 employees and about 75% have fewer than 10 employees.

The SBA FAQ also says small firms:

· Represent 99.7% of all employer firms.

· Employ just over half of all private sector employees.

· Pay 44% of total U.S. private payroll.

· Have generated 64% of net new jobs over the past 15 years (1993-2008).

· Create more than half of the nonfarm private gross domestic product (GDP).

· Hire 40% of high tech workers (such as scientists, engineers, and computer programmers).

· Are 52% home-based and 2% franchises.

· Made up 97.3% of all identified exporters and produced 30.2% of the known export value in FY 2007.

· Produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms; these patents are twice as likely as large firm patents to be among the one percent most cited.