Through the 12 months ended in March of last year, 505,473 new businesses started up in the U.S., according to the latest data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's the weakest growth since the bureau started tracking the data in the early 1990s. It's down sharply from the record 667,341 new businesses added in the 12 months that ended in March 2006.
Weak start-up growth has dire implications for jobs because small and midsize businesses have driven employment gains in the U.S. for years. Between the recession that ended in late 2001 and the start of the most recent recession in late 2007, businesses that employed fewer than 500 workers added nearly 7 million employees, according to data collected by payroll provider ADP, which tracks employment trends.
[In contrast], businesses that employed 500 or more cut nearly a million positions over the same period, often because they sent jobs overseas. Smaller companies — think local restaurants, gas stations and mom-and-pop grocery stores — are far less likely to send jobs abroad. That's why they are crucial to the recovery, economists say.
Small-business employment growth has been waning in recent months. In May, businesses with less than 50 employees added 27,000 jobs, according to ADP. While that's an improvement over a gain of 14,000 a year ago, it's down sharply from the 84,000 jobs added in April and advances of more than 100,000 in December and January.
A huge concern for small businesses, says the NFIB's Dunkelberg, is lack of clarity about what will happen in the next year in Washington. With another round of elections coming up and rancorous debate on Capitol Hill, businesses are unsure about what policies will be enacted by the government.
"There's just a huge amount of uncertainty. And when you're uncertain, you don't make bets," he says.
