Number of Black-Owned Businesses Increased by 61%

Economic parity remains elusive, but future is bright

Black Enterprise Article written by Joyce Jones.

The number of black-owned businesses increased by almost 61% between 2002 and 2007, according to a report released Tuesday by the Census Bureau. The “2007 Economic Census Survey of Business Owners” found that as of 2007, 1.9 million black businesses accounted for 7.1% of the nation’s businesses, 0.8% of total employees and about 0.5% of total receipts. A summary of the findings for black businesses can be found here.

“It is encouraging that the minority business community is growing and making progress relative to all U.S. firms, but economic parity remains elusive,” said MBDA’s National Director David A. Hinson. “While the number of minority-owned businesses continues to grow, they are still smaller in size and scale compared to non-minority-owned firms.” He attributes the disparity in large part to inadequate access to capital.

Moving forward, Hinson added, MBDA will increase its focus on helping minority firms gain access to capital, contracts and new markets. He urged these businesses to take advantage of global opportunities to export their products and services and to grow their businesses in nontraditional ways, such as mergers, joint ventures and strategic partnerships. In addition, the agency will have a specific focus on getting minority firms involved in high growth industries, such as renewable energy and healthcare technology.

Overall, the number of minority-owned businesses increased by 46% to 5.8 million between 2002 and 2007, more than twice the national rate of all U.S. businesses, according to the Census Bureau. Of the nation’s black-owned businesses, there were 106,779 employer firms, which employed 920,198 people with a total payroll of $23.9 billion and $98.9 billion in receipts. These statistics represent an increase of 22%, 36.2%, and 50%, respectively, from 2002.