|
The
Growth of Women-Owned Firms Triple That of All U.S. Firms
WASHINGTON,
DC--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2001--The U.S. Census Bureau has
released its long awaited, business survey on
women-owned businesses in the United States.
Responding
to the Census release, the National Women's Business Council, a
federal government advisory commission, was pleased to hear of
the survey's findings but cautioned that they did not tell the
whole story.
"This
Census Survey confirms our research and projections, which
indicate that the growth of women-owned businesses is continuing
to outpace the rate of growth for all businesses - by a factor
of three to one," said Kay Koplovitz, Chair, National
Women's Business Council. "While these findings are
impressive enough, they don't tell the whole story. This survey
leaves out over 4 million women-owned businesses which account
for the greatest growth in revenues and employment."
1997 Census Survey Limits Findings to 51 Percent Owned,
Privately Held Businesses
The 1997 Survey covers only 65 percent of all women-owned
businesses, leaving out businesses that were jointly owned by a
woman and a man and women-led, publicly held C-Corporations. In
1992, the Census Bureau included these businesses in its survey,
providing a more comprehensive picture of the breadth and
maturity of the women's business segment.
According
to Working Woman magazine, which has chronicled the growth of
the 500 largest firms led by women, the 2000 revenues of these
top performers approached $100 billion and employment neared
400,000.
The
Survey of Women-Owned Business Enterprises (SWOBE) is part of
the U.S. Census Bureau's Economic Census, which is conducted
every five years. The survey has been the official government
source of data tracking the growth of specific segments of
women's business ownership since the survey was first
incorporated into the census in 1972.
Over
the last two decades, the survey has revealed not only the
dramatic growth of women-owned businesses, but also their
economic power. From 1982 to 1999, the number of women-owned
businesses increased by 250 percent - from 2.6 million to an
estimated 9.1 million.
NWBC Convenes Task Force to Address Changes in the Census
Women's Survey
Recognizing that there is a much larger universe of
women-owned businesses than what is reflected in this current
survey, the National Women's Business Council will convene a
task force to examine the inclusion of all women-owned
businesses in future economic surveys. "The economists,
government officials, financiers, policy advocates and women
business owners we have invited to serve on the task force will
assist us in updating our definitions of what constitutes a
woman-owned business," said Amy Millman, Executive Director
of the Council. "We hope to establish criteria for the 2002
Census Survey that will help paint a more complete picture of
the women's business sector of our economy."
While the
1997 Survey provides the most recent data on women's business
ownership, it excludes businesses that are less than 51 percent
owned by women. The businesses included in the survey are
primarily sole proprietorships, which account for the greatest
number of businesses in the United States. However, to gain a
full picture of the growth and development of women's business
ownership, information on jointly held (50/50 ownership) and
publicly traded businesses, which are not included in this
survey, need to be added to the mix.
"It's
remarkable that even without including jointly owned and
publicly held businesses, the growth of the women's business
segment is robust - what we really need to know is the full
force and effect that women are having on the economy by
examining the 2 million women who self-identify as joint owners
and the thousands of women CEO's who lead the largest, revenue
generating companies," said Laura Henderson, former board
chair of the National Foundation for Women Business Owners.
"Our full base of knowledge is not reflected in these
numbers. Women are the newest entrants into the marketplace, and
we need to know more about their entrepreneurial activity."
What We Know About Women-Owned Businesses
There is much more to the story of women's entrepreneurship than
what is reflected in the 1997 Survey. To grasp the full portrait
of women's business ownership, the National Foundation for Women
Business Owners (NFWBO) and other data sources reveal the
following:
-
As
of 1999, there were an estimated 9.1 million women-owned
business in the United States, employing 27.5 million people
and generating over $3.6 trillion in sales annually. These
figures were based on the 1992 Economic Census and track
perfectly with growth indicators from the 1997 Survey data. www.nfwbo.org
-
The
Working Woman 500, a catalog of the largest women-owned
businesses in the country, lists total revenues of the 500
companies at nearly $100 billion in 2000, up 10 percent from
the previous year. Additionally, the 500 companies employed
393,160 employees. www.workingwoman.com
-
In
2000, Venture One reported that companies with women
founders raised $5 billion or 7 percent in venture capital
investments. Also in 2000, companies with women CEOs
received $3 billion or 4.4 percent in venture capital
investments. www.ventureone.com
-
A
recent Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership study
of 21 countries revealed that women entrepreneurs are key to
long-term economic growth and that increasing the number of
women entrepreneurs is critical for a country's long-term
economic growth. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2000. www.entreworld.org
National Women's Business Council was created by Congress to
serve as an independent source of advice and counsel to the
President and Congress on issues of importance to women
entrepreneurs. The Council has provided the women's business
community with a seat at the policy making table and has
addressed cutting edge issues of access to capital and access to
markets that have posed a challenge to women seeking to launch
and grow their businesses. Additional information about the NWBC
is available at www.nwbc.gov.
Return
To The Top
Read
More Start-Up Articles
|
