The rising growth of minority businesses
As part of its ongoing survey of the nation’s business owners, the Census Bureau recently released statistics showing that the total number of black-owned businesses grew 45% between 1997 and 2002 — more than four times the national average. During the same period, Hispanic-owned firms grew 31%, while women-owned firms shot up 20%. The report will be completed later this year.
The nation’s 1.2 million black-owned businesses and 1.6 million Hispanic-owned businesses still account for just 12% of all U.S. firms, however. Women own 6.5 million businesses, according to the most recent data.
A Kauffman Foundation report noted that African-Americans experienced the largest increase in entrepreneurial activity rates between 2008 and 2009. The African-American rate increased from 0.22 percent in 2008 to 0.27 percent in 2009, which was the highest rate over the fourteen years of reported data.
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