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Fact of the day: 99.7 percent of businesses with employees are small businesses.
With May 2-6 designated as National Small Business Week, I want to highlight some important facts and statistics about small businesses in America, and especially, here in Missouri.
There are more than 28 million small businesses in America in every industry sector. You can find them in rural towns and urban metropolises. Some have been around for generations, others are brand new.
Regardless of industry, locationor history, these firms are the backbone of our economy and they are created and sustained by the hard work of their employees and proprietors. There are more than 500,000 small businesses in Missouri alone making up 97.5 percent of firms. We all know that small businesses create jobs and the same holds true in Missouri. There are 1.1 million employees, making up 47.1 percent of Missouri employees.
Small businesses are not only the backbone of our economy, but are also the most important drivers of job creation in America. Sixty-four percent of all new private-sector job creation comes from small firms. They could also be the key to much needed economic growth, if the government bureaucrats did not smother them with new rules and regulations at every turn.
Small businesses do not have the same resources to devote to complying with government red-tape as large firms. In addition, our corporate tax system is desperately in need of reform and Obamacare is wreaking havoc on employers and employees. Taken together, there is a great deal of uncertainty and angst among small business operators and many are simply treading water, while others who are doing well are choosing not to expand.
There are also those in more dire circumstances and are struggling to survive or are headed towards closure. In fact, since 2008, the number of businesses that shutter their doors each year has exceeded the number of new ones opening up shop. To reverse this trend we must enact common sense policies at the federal level that encourage and incentivize entrepreneurship rather than demonize and punish small business job creation.
Growing up in central Missouri, there was not the same pace of business creation as somewhere like Silicon Valley. But with the willingness and the spirit of our neighbors, we have local coffee shops, stores and restaurants, as well as small firms engaged in every sector of the economy. Without their entreprenaurial spirit and commitment to the community, life in St. Elizabeth where I am from, and in so many other small towns across the country, would be a lot different.
In Washington, I am proud to have been selected by my colleagues to serve as the vice chairman of the House Small Business Committee.
It is on that committee where we bring in small business owners and employees from across the nation to hear from them how regulations, aspects of the health-care law, and the current tax code is hindering them and potential growth. I am committed to getting the government off the backs of America's 28 million small businesses so they can do what they do best: create jobs and brighten our communities.
U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., represents the state's 3rd District, which includes Jefferson City. His local office can be reached at 573-635-7232.
Web link:
luetkemeyer.house.gov