New York SBDC Research Network

The Office of Advocacy has released a report on veteran-owned businesses. The report gives a detailed profile of this robust business population based on the latest available data, the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2012 Survey of Small Business Owners. • In 2012, the United States had 21.2 million veterans, and 2.52 million businesses were majority-owned by veterans. • Almost all of veteran-owned businesses (99.9 percent) were small businesses. • Veteran-owned firms had receipts of $1.14 trillion, employed 5.03 million people, and had an annual payroll of $195 billion. • These firms represented 9.1 percent of all U.S. firms. • The three states with the most veteran-owned businesses were California, Texas, and Florida. • The three states with the highest percent of veteran-owned businesses in their populations were South Carolina, New Hampshire, and Virginia. The report is called Veteran-Owned Businesses and Their Owners: Data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners. It ...

From the Small Business Administration : Between 1994 and 2015, self-employment rose substantially among those born abroad, and, by 2015, self-employment was much higher among those born abroad than among those born in the United States. This report explains the rise in self-employment among those born abroad and the difference in self-employment in 2015 by birthplace. The prevalence of self-employment varies with age. Between 1994 and 2015, the population born abroad shifted toward ages with higher self-employment. If the age distribution of those born abroad had not changed, self-employment would not have risen among those born abroad, and self-employment in 2015 would not have differed significantly by birthplace.

The SBA Office of Advocacy released its annual report, Report on the Regulatory Flexibility Act, FY 2016 . The report analyzes federal agency compliance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), as well as with provisions of the Small Business JOBS Act of 2010 and Executive Order 13272, “Proper Consideration of Small Entities in Federal Rulemaking.” The RFA is Advocacy’s most effective tool for bringing small business concerns into the regulatory process. In FY 2016, Advocacy’s intervention on behalf of small business in federal rulemaking resulted in foregone regulatory cost savings of almost $1.4 billion. These cost savings came from Advocacy’s work on seven rules that were made final in FY 2016. These and other regulatory successes stem from small business involvement in rulemaking made possible by the RFA. Advocacy facilitated this during FY 2016 through 27 small business roundtables, 20 public comment letters, working closely with agencies on small business concerns, and ongo...

The SBA Office of Advocacy has updated its most widely used publication: "Frequently Asked Questions about Small Business." The Small Business FAQ is the place to go to for the basics – how many small businesses are in the United States, how many employees they have, and what their growth trends are. A related tool, "Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business Finance," is also being released. The Finance FAQ outlines the borrowing and lending universe for startups and exiting small businesses, provides demographic information, and touches on important trends in the amount and modes of finance. Small Business FAQ In 2013, there were 28.8 million small businesses. • Eighty percent, or 23 million, had no employees (termed “nonemployers”) • Twenty percent, or 5.8 million, had paid employees • There were 18,600 large businesses. The number of small employers has increased after a decline during the recession, while the number of nonemployers has gradu...

On May 31, 2016, the Office of Advocacy submitted an ex parte letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), asking the FCC to further analyze the small business impact of its proposed rules under Section 629 of the Communications Act.   The FCC proposed rules that would require multi-channel video programming distributors (MVPDs) to supply certain programming information in formats that conform to specifications set by open standards bodies.  The FCC published an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) with its proposal, but did not attempt to quantify the impact that the rule would have on small MVPDs.  Numerous commenters, including small MVPDs, as well as public interest groups and technology companies supporting the rule, have indicated to the FCC that the proposed rule will disproportionately affect small MVPDs.  These stakeholders have also suggested that the FCC can exempt small MVPDs from the regulations, while still achieving its Sectio...

Today, the Office of Advocacy, an independent office within the Small Business Administration, released the annual Small Business Profiles in a fresh, redesigned format. The user-friendly, data-rich profiles combine catchy visuals and more in-depth data than previous editions. They capture vital data on U.S. and state-level economic growth, industry, and jobs using completely reproducible data from the leading government statistical agencies. The profiles illustrate the state and national economies in terms of small business employment, diversity, and trade. They show the most important small business industries, both in the number of firms and how many jobs they account for. And they show establishment turnover trends and county-level job change. Visit Advocacy’s website to view the US or your state’s profile.

This week, the Office of Advocacy released the Annual Report of the Office of Economic Research, FY 2015. This report details 26 OER publications and eight Small Business Economic Research Forums that were produced during fiscal year 2015. This year, OER produced research on the following topics: ·         Access to Capital ·         Employment ·         Innovation ·         Minority- and Women-owned Businesses ·         Veterans The report includes links to all the original documents. It can be found on Advocacy's website at https://www.sba.gov/advocacy/annual-report-office-economic-research-fy-2015

This week, the Office of Advocacy, an independent office within the U.S. Small Business Administration, released an issue brief entitled “Small Businesses Key Players in International Trade.”  The issue brief spotlights the role U.S. small businesses play in international trade, and finds that small businesses are important to consider when assessing U.S. export potential and policy tools such as free trade agreements.”  Find the full Issue Brief  here . International trade makes up 30 percent of the U.S. economy, and U.S. exports of goods and services reached a record $2.3 trillion in 2014.1 While total exports have grown 44 percent since 2009, the pace of export growth has been slowing in recent years.2 U.S. businesses, particularly small businesses (firms with less than 500 employees), face a host of challenges when selling products and services abroad; these may include high tariffs, financial risks, and customs clearance delays. Despite the challenges, internati...

The Office of Advocacy has released its Quarterly Lending Bulletin, Small Business Lending: First Quarter 2015 . This report shows that small business borrowing conditions continued to improve gradually in the first quarter of 2015. For example, the percent change in small business loans outstanding (in amounts of $1 million or less) remained positive or unchanged for the sixth consecutive quarter. Small business loans outstanding totaled $595 billion and remained relatively flat from the previous quarter, but year-over-year (Q1 2014 to Q1 2015) showed an increase of 1.7 percent. Small Business Lending: First Quarter 2015, can be found on Advocacy's website here.

The Office of Advocacy, an independent office within the U.S. Small Business Administration, released an Issue Brief entitled “ Patenting and Innovative Startups: Putting the America Invents Act (AIA) in a Broader Economic Context. ” The issue brief summarizes some of the potential small business outcomes of the AIA and contextualizes those outcomes for innovative startups. This issue brief finds that policy changes that affect patenting could affect innovative startups as they may heavily utilize patents to raise funds to continue to innovate.

The Office of Advocacy released a small business fact sheet, "Putting Recent Venture Capital Gains in Perspective," by Economist Jonathan Porat. According to the fact sheet, the first quarter of fiscal year 2015 had the highest level of venture capital investment in a first quarter since the year 2000. This upward trend is part of a sizeable post-recessionary rebound in venture capital. The fact sheet also examines the data on venture capital investment deals since 1995 and looks at the five biggest venture capital deals in Q1 2015, all of which are technology startups from California. The fact sheet can be found here .

Equally-owned businesses (EOBs) represent a significant share of firms, employment, and receipts. These firms are frequently overlooked in discussions about business owner demographics. To say that 30 percent of firms are female-owned suggests that the other 70 percent are owned by men, when in reality, 53 percent are male-owned, and 17 percent are equally-owned by men and women. Compared to other firms, EOBs are more likely to be family-owned or owned jointly by a married couple, but less likely to be minority-owned or veteran owned.

The Office of Advocacy has released the May 2015 issue of The Small Business Advocate. This edition features the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) proposed rule governing small unmanned aircraft systems (small UAS), also known as small drones. Advocacy held a roundtable to gather small business input on the proposed rule and submitted a comment letter to FAA on the rule. In addition, the newsletter covers six comment letters that were submitted to federal agencies regarding proposed rulemakings, and three regulatory alerts on new rulemakings. The newsletter also features Advocacy's new graphic and data visualization designer, new economic issue briefs released by Advocacy's Office of Economic research, and requests for quotations. In This Issue Rule Proposed on Employer Wellness Programs; DHS and DOL Issue Changes to H-2B Visa Program; Proposal Expands Retirement Advice Covered by Fiduciary Protections The entire newsletter can be found on Advocacy's websi...

The Office of Advocacy has released a new issue brief, Profile of Veteran Business Owners: 2013, which examines the demographics of veteran business owners. Using 2013 data from Census’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), this issue brief is an update to an Advocacy profile of veteran business owners released in November 2013. The issue brief looks at a variety of characteristics of veteran business owners as compared to non-veteran business owners, such as age, gender, marital status, level of education and citizenship. It also details the features of veteran-owned businesses, including industry sector, firm size and age of business.

The Office of Advocacy released Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories, the annual snapshots of state-level small business activity. The profiles report on the number of small firms, employment, and owner demographics. They also list each state’s top small business industries by number of firms and number of employees. The profiles cover the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the United States. They also provide limited information on the U.S. territories. In addition to the profiles, detailed state data is available on Advocacy’s website. To access the book of all small business profiles or any of the individual states, visit www.sba.gov/advocacy/small-business-profiles-states-and-territories-2014 . For more information about the Office of Advocacy, visit our website at www.sba.gov/advocacy or telephone (202) 205-6533. 

The Office of Advocacy has released its annual report on small business lending. Small Business Lending in the United States, 2013 describes trends in the small business lending market in general. It also provides data on more than 6,000 U.S. lenders, showing the emphasis on small business lending in their portfolios. The report covers the time period June 2012 to June 2013 using Call Report data from the FDIC, and supplements this with Community Reinvestment Act data from 2012. During this period, small business lending improved, but at a slower pace than large business lending. Soon afterward, small business lending entered positive territory. A data update is provided to cover these trends, extending into the first quarter of 2014. The report and research summary are available on Advocacy’s webpage, at https://www.sba.gov/advocacy/small-business-lending-united-states-2013 .

The Office of Advocacy has released an informative fact sheet entitled "Student Debt Among Young Entrepreneurs." This publication examines how student debt is affecting self-employment trends among younger individuals. The report finds that student debt is rising and is having a negative effect on the rate of self-employment. It also looks at other characteristics of individuals with student debt. Find the full fact sheet here .

The Office of Advocacy has released its Small Business Quarterly Bulletin for Second Quarter 2014.  This two-page publication includes figures and tables of economic indicators to show the status of small business.  This latest quarterly bulletin shows promising signs for small businesses.  The bulletin includes data about proprietors' income, establishment births and deaths and various small business employment variables. The Small Business Quarterly Bulletin for Second Quarter 2014 is available online at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/advocacy/sb_qi_2014q2_FIN_0.pdf.

After almost five years of gradual economic recovery, we are seeing increasingly positive signs from small businesses. The establishment birth rate (the share of the average of the previous and current total number of establishments) has been showing slow, relatively steady increases. And the number of employers is on the rise, which is apparent in the increasing gap between establishment birth and death rates. Above all, prosperity is most evident in the upward trend of proprietors’ income, which has increased more than a third in recent years after a lackluster performance earlier in the decade. More from The Office of Advocacy's Small Business Quarterly Bulletin for First Quarter 2014 .

The Office of Advocacy’s Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business , has been newly updated. Reading the FAQ is the best Q&A session about small business that you will ever have. The four-pager is a reference guide to better understand small businesses’ status and role in the economy.