Women-Owned Businesses are Second Only to Publicly-Traded Firms in Job Creation Since the Great Recession

According to the report, small businesses owned by women of color have seen tremendous growth in economic clout since 1997. Over the past sixteen years, the number of firms owned by women of color (African American, Latina, Asian American, Native American/Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander) has increased 156% to 2,677,700 and now represent approximately one in three (31%) women-owned businesses. The number of all women-owned firms grew by 59% in the same time period.

Likewise, growth in employment (85%) and revenues (168%) of firms owned by women of color topped growth rates of all women-owned firms (10% and 63% respectively) by wide margins.

Women-owned firms have maintained a steady pace of growth, higher than the national average, despite recent economic uncertainty. As of 2013, it is estimated that there are more than 8.6 million women-owned businesses in the United States, generating nearly $1.3 trillion in revenues and employing 7.8 million people as stated in the annual study, now in its third year.

Between 1997 and 2013, the number of women-owned businesses grew at 1.5 times the national average. Over the past 16 years, the growth in number (up 59%), employment (up 10%) and revenues (up 63%) of women-owned firms exceeded the rates of all privately-held businesses over this period.

“The report underlines the important role women-owned firms have played throughout the economic recovery,” said Susan Sobbott, president of American Express OPEN.  “Women-owned businesses have been net job creators since 2007, a distinction shared by only large, publicly traded companies.”

Other research findings:

• The growth in the number of African American (up 258% from 1997 to 2013), Asian American (up 156%), Latina (up 180%), Native American/Alaska Native (up 108%), and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (up 216%) women-owned firms all top the growth in the number of non-minority women-owned firms (up 32%) over the past 16 years;
• The fastest growth in the number of women-owned firms over the past 11 years  has been in education services (up 113%), administration and waste services (up 58%), health care and social assistance (up 45%), and transportation and warehousing (up 40%).

Geographic Trends
The states with the fastest growth in the number of women-owned firms during the past 16 years, compared to a 59% increase nationwide, are:

1. Georgia (112%)
2. Texas (93%)
3. North Carolina (91%)
4. Louisiana (94%)
5. Nevada (84%)

The states with the lowest growth in the number of women-owned firms between 1997 and 2013 are:

1. Alaska (12%)
2. West Virginia (23%)
3. Iowa (23%)
4. Ohio (27%)
5. Kansas (27%)

The metropolitan areas with the highest combined economic clout for women-owned firms, taking into consideration the growth in number of firms, revenue and employment, are:

1. San Antonio, TX
2. Portland, OR
3. Houston, TX
4. Riverside, CA
5. Washington, DC/MD/VA

The full State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, commissioned by American Express OPEN, is available at: www.openforum.com/womensbusinessreport.