According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms. Since 1995, small businesses have generated 64 percent of new jobs, and paid 44 percent of the total United States private payroll, according to the SBA.
Holy shit! Just take a second to reflect on that. Small businesses are a major driver in economic development. So why does it seem there is such little support for small businesses?
Each year the Small Business Administration puts together an economic profile report per state. Here are some of the interesting statistics from Michigan. Small businesses are defined by the SBA as 499 or less employees.
- There are 856,352 small businesses in Michigan, or 98.2% of all businesses.
- 50.2% of Michigan employees are employed by small businesses.
- In the second quarter of 2014, 4,867 establishments started up in Michigan and 4,773 exited. 6 Startups generated 24,339 new jobs while exits caused 19,208 job losses.
- There are 103,083 small businesses within the Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services Industry.
What these numbers tell us: 1) Small businesses are the largest driver of our economy in Michigan, 2) We employ a lot of the people, 3) Small business is hard and our state has to do a better job of supporting us, 4) We need to create programs and incentives that support the more technical small businesses as this is the future of our state.
In next week’s blog I will share resources and organizations that support small businesses. Because we all need a helping hand.
