WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Office of Advocacy, an independent office within the Small Business Administration, released the annual Small Business Profiles. The user-friendly data-rich profiles capture vital information on the U.S. and state-level economic growth, industry, and jobs using completely reproducible data from the leading government statistical agencies.
“Continuing Advocacy’s efforts to modernize and improve the application of our products, this year’s Small Business State Profiles have elevated the bar of usability,” said Chief Counsel for Advocacy Darryl L. DePriest. “This transparent format allows for anyone to reproduce and create their own small business profiles specific to their needs or the needs of their stakeholders.”
“The revamped design and the intuitive charts allow Alabama’s small businesses to better understand the contributions they make to their community and the critical role they play in Alabama’s economic success,” said Chief Economist and Director of Economic Research Christine Kymn.
Top line national small business statistics include:
- Alabama is home to 382,524 million small businesses.
- Alabama small businesses represent 96.7% of all businesses with employees and employ about 47.7% of the nation’s private-sector workforce.
- Small businesses with fewer than 100 employees have the largest share of small business employment.
- The three Alabama industries with the most small business jobs are Health Care and Social Assistance with 113,580 jobs, Accommodation and Food Services with 89,707 jobs, and Retail Trade with 87,257 jobs.
- The number of minority-owned firms increased by 30.7% between 2007 and 2012.
- Small businesses made up 81.2% of Alabama exporting companies and generated 15.8% of Alabama’s total known export value.
The Alabama profile is available on the Office of Advocacy website.
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Background: The Small Business Profiles report on the economic status of small business from 2010 to 2015. The profiles are a reference tool for researchers, policymakers, and small entities who are interested in how small firms are performing regionally or nationally. Note that the profiles generally define small businesses as firms with fewer than 500 employees.
The Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent voice for small business within the federal government. The presidentially appointed and Senate confirmed Chief Counsel for Advocacy advances the views, concerns and interests of small business before Congress, the White House, federal agencies, federal courts and policymakers. Regional advocates and an office in Washington, D.C., support the Chief Counsel’s efforts. For more information, visit www.sba.gov/advocacy, call (202) 205-6533 or get updates on Twitter @AdvocacySBA or Facebook at www.facebook.com/AdvocacySBA.
For Release: April 6, 2016
SBA Number: 16-05 ADV
Contact: Elle Patout
Elle.Patout@sba.gov
