Right now the economy seems to be a bit stagnant, and some are pointing to a lack of small business startups as the root of the problem.
The Small Business Administration says on average more than 500,000 business will open every year and about 600,000 existing companies will close. Still, new establishments have a 70 percent chance of making it at least 2 years and make up 99.7 percent of private employers. The SBA's fact sheet shows 44 percent all U.S. payroll is created by small- and medium-sized business owners, a big task for business banking to handle. All of this taken together makes them a huge cog in the national marketplace, so if small business isn't doing well, it might be inferred that the economy is suffering, too.
Echoing that sentiment, the Census Bureau recently put out a report showing just how far-reaching the issue might be. Their report, "Where Have All the Young Firms Gone?" shows that the number of new startup businesses in the U.S. has hit an all-time low since 1980, and while the size of newly-formed companies is about the same as ever, the fact that there are fewer entities could explain why the job market and other aspects of the economy continue to struggle.
"There are a lot of questions as to why the economy has been slow coming out of the recession," said Javier Mirada, of the Center for Economic Studies, in a Reuters interview. "It is possible that some of that could be explained by the decline in the trend of startups and new firms in the U.S. economy."
Small businesses employ half the private sector according to the SBA, so with a decline in firm numbers, there could be fewer jobs available. Banks may notice a difference in small business and commercial loan approvals seeing as startups usually need about $40,000 a year in credit and other financial tools and they just don't exist in the same volume as they used to. The lack of small business enterprise could even hurt things like gross domestic product, export rates, and patent numbers.
Right now there are opportunities for startup businesses and plenty of financial tips available for getting your small business plans off the ground. With fewer new companies to compete with, now may be a good time to get started.