By the second quarter of last year, everybody’s jobs numbers were looking a bit better, with the notable exception of the largest firm size class, according to the 2Q 2009 Business Employment Dynamics data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) last week. The 2Q dynamic jobs numbers show that the evident beginnings of [...]

Last week, the SBA Office of Advocacy released the latest in its series of Quarterly Indicators briefs, this time reporting on the fourth quarter of 2009. So, now, I get to throw a bunch of numbers at you, the good news being that there will not be a quiz when I’m done. The Commerce Department [...]

Living a reasonably cushy life in these United States (by international standards), we Americans are inclined to take certain things for granted. For example, one thing we take so utterly for granted that most have never even thought about the concept is the infrastructure of the U.S. economy. The economic infrastructure of the U.S. consists [...]

That is why it is sometimes said, among us microbusiness advocate types, that a small business with 40 employees has a lot more in common with a “small business” that has 400 employees than it does with a small business that has 4 employees.

The 4-person business, the microbusiness, is just too small to even have the option of approximating something like a large business. So, it’s owner has two options: grow enough to “fit in” or thumb your nose at all that and figure out something else.

Over the last twenty years or so, increasing numbers of microbusinesses have chosen to explore what’s behind Door Number Two.

Sixty-four percent of small business owners report decreased revenue over the last 12 months, according to a survey released last week by the National Small Business Association. On the other hand, a majority of survey respondents (52%) expect the economy to produce growth opportunities over the next 12 months. And here’s more good news: the [...]

The most significant determinant of nonemployer firm births is the condition of the labor market, according to a new working paper released last month by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy. The final Advocacy release of 2009 was entitled The Nonemployer Startup Puzzle, written by Advocacy’s Brian Headd, and Zoltan Acs and Hezekiah [...]

States with growing economies present better opportunities for high-achieving college graduates, whether they wind up in wage and salary employment or self-employed, according to a working paper released by the SBA Office of Advocacy last week. The paper, entitled Educational Attainment, “Brain Drain,” and Self-employment: Examining the Interstate Mobility of Baccalaureate Graduates, 1993-2003, uses the [...]

The recent financial markets crisis turned out to be an unexpected boon for microfinance in the United States, for the simple reason that microenterprise development organizations (MDOs) were still lending while banks were still lacking liquidity or hampered by nervous regulators. However, while the added attention to microlending has been a very good thing for [...]

If you were to step outside and walk down the street right now, one of every eleven or twelve people you passed would be involved in some stage of starting or managing an entrepreneurial venture, according to a newly released report from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). One of the more noticeable things about this [...]

As much as I enjoy myth-busting, there is one bit of Congressional lore that I would have a difficult time refuting: tax-writing Congressional committees under Democrats are not friendly to small businesses. House Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) has openly said that the Ways and Means Committee was not particularly friendly to small [...]