Small businesses key to economic recovery, report says

By Steve Green

Monday, Jan. 26, 2009 | 9:03 a.m.

A new report is highlighting the importance of small businesses in the economic recoveries of Nevada and the rest of the nation.

The report, issued Friday by the U.S. Small Business Administration, calls on government officials to recognize the role of small businesses in the economy.

"Nevada depends on small business for jobs and economic growth," said Shawne McGibbon, acting chief counsel for the SBA's Office of Advocacy. "During this time of financial stress and economic instability, policymakers need to remember that the state's small businesses provide the economic base for its families and communities."

The SBA said that the United States has slightly more than 6 million small employers and they provide 50.4 percent of its private sector employment. These firms created 78.9 percent of the nation's net new jobs from 2004 to 2005, and they generated more than half of the private non-farm gross domestic product, the agency said.

Compared to the rest of the nation, small businesses play a smaller role than big businesses in Nevada's economy. Big employers with 500 or more workers like hotel-casinos employed some 651,000 people in Nevada in 2006 compared to about 515,000 people employed by smaller firms, U.S. Census data shows.

But in its updated Nevada Small Business profile issued Friday, the SBA said that from 2002 to 2005, 46,879 of the 67,846 jobs created in Nevada were created by businesses employing fewer than 500 workers.

Steve Green can be reached at 990-7714 or [email protected].