Don't tell the Wall Street protesters

"Small business drives the American economy," said Dr. Chad Moutray, Chief Economist for the Office of Advocacy in a press release. "Main Street provides the jobs and spurs our economic growth. American entrepreneurs are creative and productive, and these numbers prove it."

Small businesses are job creators. Office of Advocacy funded data and research shows that small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all firms, they create more than half of the private non-farm gross domestic product, and they create 60 to 80 percent of the net new jobs.

In 2004, there were an estimated 23,974,500 businesses in the U.S.

Of the 5,683,700 firms with employees, 5,666,600 were small firms.

The latest data also show that in 2002:
 *   women owned 6,492,795 firms;
 *   Blacks owned 1,197,988 firms;
 *   Hispanics owned 1,574,159 firms;
 *   Asians owned 1,105,329 firms; and
 *   American Indians and Alaskan Natives owned 206,125 firms.

While small businesses are struggling, there were  approximately 6,000,000 plus companies in 2008 that employed  99 employees or less according to the US Census, out of a total of 7.6 million businesses.  Small firms employ 50% of the American workers and account for 65% of all new jobs created from 1993-2009. 

How important are small business to the US economy?

Small firms:

•    Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.
•    Employ half of all private sector employees.
•    Pay 44 percent of total U.S. private payroll.
•    Generated 65 percent of net new jobs over the past 17 years.
•    Create more than half of the nonfarm private GDP.
•    Hire 43 percent of high tech workers ( scientists, engineers, computer programmers, and others).
•    Are 52 percent home-based and 2 percent franchises.
•    Made up 97.5 percent of all identified exporters and produced 31 percent of export value in FY 2008.
•    Produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Census Bureau and Intl. Trade Admin.; Advocacy-funded research by Kathryn Kobe, 2007 (www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs299.pdf) and CHI Research, 2003 (www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs225.pdf);U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The SBA (Small Business Administration) has put together a 185 page document regarding small business in the US.  Read PDF

Small businesses will create the jobs that Americans need, not the large corporations - small businesses have always been there for Americans and small businesses will continue to be there for Americans.

What is very interesting here is that there are many entrepreneurs who are making lots of money off these protesters, so I would think our free market enterprise system is working just fine.  In fact, I am sure that the City of New York will have no problems making payroll for the hundreds of law enforcement personnel that are putting in overtime to monitor the crowds.  These law enforcement personnel will use this overtime to buy Christmas presents for their children and take their spouses out to dinner, and will be thanking these protesters in a few days when they leave.