C-Suite Wednesday – National Entrepreneurship Month

November 7, 2018

By Dominic J Bartolone
Contributing Editor, C-Suite Wednesday

C-Suite Wednesday – National Entrepreneurship Month

November 20th is National Entrepreneurship Day, and we thought it’s only fitting that we offer a few insights about small businesses and provide a recap of how SMBs are contributing to job growth and job creation in the new American economy.

Consider this…

  • Over 62% of all private sector jobs created after the recession have come from small businesses
  • More than 50% of all Americans own or work for a small business
  • At the start of 2018, there were 29.6 million small businesses in the U.S.
  • Small businesses power the American economy, with 2 out of every 3 newly created jobs coming from small businesses
  • About 28% of neighborhood small businesses are founded by immigrants
  • More than 50% of recent billion-dollar startups are owned by immigrants
  • Over the past 20 years, women-owned SMBs have grown by a whopping 114%
  • Women own nearly 10 million small businesses, employing over 8.4 million workers
  • Minority-owned SMBs employ more than 7 million employees nationwide
  • There are now over 5 million small businesses owned by veterans

With all this positive growth, it’s no wonder that small business optimism is up. The latest Paychex Business Sentiment Report, polling over 600 small businesses, showed that overall optimism stands at 71 on a scale of 100. Moreover, owners’ confidence in attracting new business is also a healthy 71 percent.

Small business owners are optimistic about raising capital and investing in their business, with respondents rating access to business capital at 65/100, and the ability to make a capital investment in their company at 62/100.

Ironically, the worst scoring on the report pertained to the ability of small business owners to find and retain qualified employees. Owners gave that topic the lowest ranking of the survey at 51 percent.

Overall, the red-hot American economy continues to be very good for small business owners across the nation, as well as a driving force behind a diverse group of entrepreneurs who are jumping at the chance to start a new business.