WHAT’S NEW
WITH SMALL BUSINESS?
September 2019

A small business is an independent business with fewer than 500 employees.

WHAT IS A SMALL BUSINESS?

U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

REGULATION	RESEARCH	OUTREACH

Small businesses accounted for 65%
of net new jobs.

NET NEW JOBS

65%

NET NEW JOBS

SMALL BUSINESSES COMPRISE:

BED, [2000-2018]

ALL FIRMS

ALL FIRMS
with paid employees

EXPORTING FIRMS

KNOWN EXPORT VALUE

PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYEES

PRIVATE SECTOR PAYROLL

99.9%	99.7%

97.5%

33.3%	47.3%	40.7%
SUSB, NES [2016], ITA [2016]

30.7M SMALL BUSINESSES IN THE U.S.

400K CLOSURES

433K STARTUPS*

20M	19.2M

81% No
employees

SUSB, NES [2016]

19% Paid employees

15M
10M
5M

8.0M

NUMBER OF FIRMS
SBO [2012]

273K	1.9M	2.5M	2.6M	3.3M	2.5M

9.9M

14.8M

Nonminority   Minority	American
Indian and Alaska Native

US CENSUS BUREAU

Asian	Veteran

Black or African American

Hispanic

Equally Male/ Woman Owned

Woman Owned

Male Owned

* A startup is a firm that is less
than one year old.

BDS [2016]

NES	Nonemployer Statistics
BDS	Business Dynamics Statistics SBO	Survey of Business Owners SUSB	Statistics of US Businesses

BED	Business Employment Dynamics, Bureau of Labor Statistics
ITA	International Trade Administration, US Department of Commerce

For even more information visit advocacy.sba.gov