An Analysis of 

Small Business and Jobs 

 by 

Brian Headd 

Office of Advocacy 

Release Date: March 2010 

This report was developed within the Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, and contains 

information and analysis that was reviewed and edited by officials of the Office of Advocacy. However, 

the final conclusions of the report do not necessarily reflect the views of the Office of Advocacy. 
Small and large firms have differing roles in the labor market. Relatively new data now allow us to 

better dissect the labor market with respect to job flows (hires, fires, retires, and job hoppers) and 

firm size and even in some instances firm age. Understanding who creates and destroys jobs is 

paramount as we seek a solution for our loss of over 7 million net jobs from December 2007 to 

December 2009.1 

While small and large firms provide roughly equivalent shares of jobs, the major part of job 

generation and destruction takes place in the small firm sector, and small firms provide the greater 

share of net new jobs. In some ways this role as a major creator and destroyer of jobs is a result of 

being the major creator and destroyer of businesses in general. The term for this in small business 

research circles which was popularized by Joseph Schumpeter (1942) is “creative destruction.” 

David Birch (1979) discovered that the end result of small businesses’ creative destruction was a net 

increase in employment. This finding was the seed for the small business employment discussion 

that continues to the present day. And even more important than the ensuing debate about Birch’s 

findings was the motivation to gather new kinds of data to better analyze Birch’s findings.2

 This 

has led us to two decades of a data evolution with respect to small business employment flows.3

The following is a primer for understanding some basic facts about small businesses’ role in 

employment and the data that are available to form opinions and develop hypotheses. The paper is 

broken into sections discussing the static view of the labor market, the dynamic view, current 

events, and concluding remarks. The static view illustrates small and large firm shares of the job 

market; these are essentially snapshots in time. The dynamic view tracks how firms got from point 

A to point B, and what happened to jobs along the way. For instance, the static view shows the 

amount of jobs in small firms while the dynamic view shows job growth, job decline, and net job 

change in small and large firms. 

 

1

 The author would like to acknowledge the invaluable editing assistance of the Office of Advocacy’s Rebecca Krafft 

and input from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Jim Spletzer and the Small Business Administration’s Subash Iyer in 

shaping this paper. 

2

 See Davis, Haltiwanger, and Schuh (1993) for an early example. 3

 Covering the topics presented in this paper would not have been possible without the groundbreaking efforts of U.S. 

Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics managers, programmers, and economists. Economists involved in 

creating new data sets include but are not limited to: Zoltan Acs, Catherine Armington, Rick Boden, Rick Clayton, 

Stephen Davis, John Haltiwanger, Ron Jarmin, Julia Lane, Javier Miranda, Alfred Nucci, Jim Spletzer, and Dave Talon. 

3 
The Static Picture: How Many Workers Do Small Businesses Employ? 

The private sector consists of small businesses and large businesses. And the government often 

defines small as firms with fewer than 500 employees.4

 Using this definition, one-half of the 

private sector is populated by small businesses and the other half by large businesses. Or, put 

another way, in 2006, 60 million people were employed by smalls, and 60 million by large.5 

Small firms’ employment share of the private sector (along with the economy’s average firm size) is 

a reflection of economies of scale; these are largely affected by the economy as a whole, 

technology, consumer preferences, the fortunes of various industries, financing, and myriad other 

factors. The share is not necessarily a commentary on whether small business is a good or bad 

thing, or on its importance or lack thereof. Instead, this overall employment share is in some ways 

an indicator of an economy’s industry mix. A few hundred years ago when farming was king, the 

small firm share of employment was high. This shrank as we entered the Industrial Revolution 

(think manufacturing and heavy industry), and it expanded as service industries increased (think 

cleaning services and pet care). However, over the past few decades the share of small firm 

employment in certain industries has been undergoing a reversal: for example, small firms’ 

employment share has decreased in retail trade while it has increased in manufacturing. The data 

support the media stories of big box stores and mini-mills proliferating (Figure 1). 

The share of employment in small firms has been relatively stable over the past few decades.6

 It 

has fluctuated slightly in response to economic conditions, declining slightly when the economy is 

doing well and increasing when the economy struggles. This tracks with the slight decline in the 

small business share of employment during the late 1990s and the leveling off in the 2000s. 

 

4

 For industry size definitions for government purposes, see U.S. Small Business Administration, 2010. 5

 Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB). Small firms also account for about half of private-sector output (Kobe, 2007). 

6

 These figures do not include the self-employed (primary occupation and whose tax status is unincorporated). 

Including this group would increase the small firms’ share of the workforce a few percentage points. 

4 
Figure 1 The small business share of employment is relatively stable. 

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, from data provided by U.S. 

Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses which covers the 

private-sector.

20

30

40

50

60

1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006

Percent

Total Manufacturing (SIC) Manufacturing (NAICS)

Retail Trade (SIC) Retail Trade (NAICS)

Small Businesses Share of Employment, 1988-2006

Small businesses’ share of private-sector employment is a constant shuffle of employer-employee 

matches. Some employees may even consider the size of the firm in their decision to accept an 

employment offer or to jump ship. But even though economists may think in terms of individuals 

choosing to work for small or large firms, it’s more likely that workers choose an occupation and 

then a job that an employer offers. Some occupations are in greater supply in small firms than large 

firms. For instance, someone choosing to be a dental hygienist would tend to work for a small firm 

as most dental firms are small, and most flight attendants would tend to work for large firms. But 

employees of both small and large firms can move on to other firms for better opportunities, so they 

would not necessarily have a “small firm” or “large firm” career. Essentially if the grass is greener, 

workers will walk and employers will poach, leveling the playing field across firm sizes.7

 

 

7

 The Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics data series, which can follow employees 

throughout their careers, may eventually provide more insight into individual career progressions by firm size. Brown, 

Haltiwanger, and Lane (2006) show what can be gleaned from this database by focusing on the impact of volatility on 

career paths and firms for five industries. 

5 
Small firms do not necessarily create “inferior jobs” as they have shares of part-time employees 

similar to those of large firms. About 21 percent of small firm workers were part-time in 2008, 

compared with 18 percent of large firm workers.8

 Small firms’ slightly higher share of part-time 

workers is not surprising; consider a firm that wants to increase employment by 25 percent; a firm 

with two employees would add one worker half-time, whereas a firm with 500 workers would add 

125 workers full-time to achieve the same increase. 

Small firms also tend to fill niches in the labor market that are underserved (often have high rates of 

unemployment, for example). Small firms employ higher shares of Hispanics than large firms (65.9 

percent of Hispanics work for firms with fewer than 500 employees).9 And compared with large 

firms, small firms also employ higher shares of individuals with low educational attainment—a high 

school degree or less (63.2 percent); high school-aged workers (63.8 percent); individuals 65 or 

older (64.6 percent); disabled workers (59.4 percent); and rural workers (64.3 percent).10 

While small firms’ average pay tends to be lower than that of larger firms, the demographic profile 

of the small firm work force needs to be taken into account when comparing wages. For example, 

about one-third of the difference between small- and large-firm earnings per employee disappears 

when the comparison is limited to workers who are full-time and have at least a college degree.11

Small firms’ share of workers, or workers by race or age, does not change much over time or 

changes slowly, but this relative calm tends to conceal some interesting job flows. The dynamics 

behind the snapshots conceal the job creation and destruction process, as some small firms grow 

into large firms and some large firms shrink into small ones. 

 

8

 From unpublished U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey March Supplement microdata for 2008 wage and 

salary workers. 

9

 Current Population Survey. 

10 See The Small Business Economy, 2010, Table A.14 (U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, 

forthcoming). 

11 Current Population Survey. For a more detailed discussion of wages by firm size, see Brown et al. (1990). 

6 
The Dynamic Picture: How Many Jobs Do Small Businesses Create (and Destroy)? 

Firm Age. Underpinning any discussion of job flows—i.e., losses and gains—are two related 

topics: business flows and business life cycles. For example, entry is a pure job creator and exit is a 

pure job destroyer, while a business’s life stage plays a big role in its number of employees. 

Almost all businesses start small. The U.S. Census Bureau’s Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB) 

shows that over the last 20 years, about 95 percent of new employer firms started with fewer than 

20 employees. Along with start-ups come closures. Firms with fewer than 20 employees also 

account for 95 percent of closures. This illustrates that business turnover is the domain of small 

businesses. 

Establishment turnover follows similar patterns.12 Small establishment turnover (entry and exit) is 

a reasonably good proxy for small firm turnover, as the bulk of establishment entry and exit (about 

85 percent according to SUSB) occurs in small firms. 

The fact that most firms start small is not surprising, as the resources needed to launch larger 

operations are tough to come by at the outset of the venture. What does seem surprising, however, 

is that few start-ups grow by more than a few employees (Headd and Kirchhoff, 2009). So while 95 

percent of employers started with fewer than 20 employees, about 90 percent of employers had 

fewer than 20 employees in 2006, according to SUSB. 

Most small firms start small, stay small, and close just a few years after opening. This typical life 

cycle is often used as evidence that small firms do not have a significant impact on employment. 

However, the Census Bureau’s Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS) show that firms created 70.5 

million jobs in their first year of existence between 1977 and 2000; 57 million jobs remained by the 

time those firms reached their fifth birthday. Job losses from firm deaths exceeded job gains from 

business expansion during these firms’ first five years of life, and this pattern continued for the first 

 

12 Small establishments are business locations which may or may not be owned by small firms. A firm is an 

aggregation of all establishments owned by a parent company. 

7 
20 years of life (see Figure 2).13 In short, the employment effect of a cohort of businesses is greater 

at birth than in any subsequent year. This is a very strong basis for the claim that opening a business 

has greater consequences for job creation than expanding a business does. The criticism that new 

businesses close quickly is also weak; about half of new firms survive five years or more.14 And as 

an additional argument for the value of new firms, almost all fast-growing firms started small, as 

did most large firms. 

Figure 2. Startups are the job creators. 

Mean Employment Level for Firm Birth Year Cohorts, 

1980-2005 

(millions)

2.98 2.98

2.76 2.60 2.47 2.38

2.14 1.99 1.93

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 to 10 11 to 15 16 to 20

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy from data provided by 

the U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics.

Years in existence

Using a different type of analysis—defining firms by just their entry, growth/decline, and exit rather 

than tracking them over their lives—yields differing results. The job flows that underlie net 

employment changes are job gains from openings and expansions and job losses from closings and 

contractions. The bulk of job flows takes place in existing firms’ expansions and contractions 

(Table 1). In addition, the bulk of the job flows are in small firms. Although job turnover can be an 

emotional roller coaster for individuals, small firm job flows are a boon to the economy; this 

 

13 This point is illustrated in the work of Shane (2009) and Stangler and Litan (2009). 

14 See the Office of Advocacy’s FAQ, http://www.sba.gov/advo/stats/sbfaq.pdf. 

8 
churning represents the economy’s constant evolution from outmoded processes and industries to 

more productive ones, or “creative destruction.” 

Table 1: Job Flows in Establishments by Employment Size of Firm, 1993-2008 

(millions of jobs) 

Size of Firm Net Change Job Gains from: Job Losses from: 

Openings Expansions Closings Contractions 

Total 20.7 105.2 398.3 97.7 385.1 

Less than 20 4.6 54.8 104.5 51.8 102.9 

20-499 8.7 11.5 150.6 12.6 140.8 

500+ 7.5 1.0 93.9 1.3 86.0 

Note: The totals include establishments for which firm size was not available. 

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment 

Dynamics. 

Like job flows, the net jobs from continuing firms (firms that existed before and survived the period 

of analysis) overwhelm new and closing firms’ employment impact. Quarterly data from the 

Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Business Employment Dynamics (BED) show that continuing 

establishments accounted for 69 percent of the net new jobs from 1993 to mid-2008, and the other 

31 percent reflected net new jobs from establishment births minus those lost in deaths (Figure 3). 

Other data sources ascribe an even greater impact to them: using annual data, SUSB shows 

continuing firms accounting for 90 percent of the net new jobs over the past few decades, and firm 

births minus deaths accounting for the remaining 10 percent.15 

 

15 This is a good example of differing definitions producing differing results, as the BED data are quarterly and based on 

establishments, while the SUSB data are annual and based on firms. 

9 
Figure 3. Existing businesses are job creators. 

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, from data provided by 

the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment 

Dynamics.

30.98

69.02

Net jobs resulting from 

establishment turnover 

(births minus deaths)

Net jobs resulting from 

continuing establishments 

(expansions minus 

contractions)

Net Employment Change for Firm Dynamics, 1993-2008

Firm Size. Much of the preceding discussion of job creation focuses on firm age. But while firm 

size is closely related to firm age; focusing on one or the other answers different questions. 

The two principal official firm size employment creation/destruction data sources differ somewhat, 

and as with many economic figures, they vary from year to year. BED figures show that a net 1.5 

million jobs were lost in 2008, 64 percent of which were from small firms. Over the past 15 years, 

small businesses have accounted for about 65 percent of the private-sector net job creation 

according to BED figures. (SUSB figures show small businesses accounting for about 90 percent of 

net new jobs through 2006.) The figures from both data sources are depicted in Figure 4. In nondownturn periods, BED data show small firms accounting for around 60 percent of net new jobs, 

and the SUSB data attribute around 75 percent to them. 

10 
Figure 4. Small businesses are the main job creator. 

Share of Net New Jobs by Firm Size

<20, 22.4%

20-499, 42.8%

500+, 34.8%

BLS, BED, 

1993-2009q2

(17.9 million 

net new jobs)

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, from data provided by 

the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, BED and U.S. Department of 

Commerce, Census Bureau, SUSB.

Census, SUSB, 

1993-2006

(25.1 million 

net new jobs)

<20, 72.1%

20-499, 16.0%

500+, 12.0%

The difference in these answers arises from the way each source defines “small business,” which 

data (and associated methodology) are used, and the time period analyzed (Okolie, 2004). The 

Office of Advocacy uses the generally accepted small business definition of a firm with fewer than 

500 employees. However, Advocacy has provided partial funding for SUSB to create subset firm 

sizes allowing users to examine other categories of small businesses and understand the nuances of 

different firm size classes. 

While everyone clamors for the most recent data, this is usually not the most in-depth. The Bureau 

of Labor Statistics produces BED with only a six- to nine-month lag, so this would be the data 

source of choice for recent data. But BED has little industry or geographic coverage. If data are 

needed for geographic areas or industries, SUSB fills this void, but at a cost of a two- to three-year 

lag. 

BED and SUSB differ on a few fronts. BED is quarterly and SUSB is annual, so BED tracks a firm 

over shorter time intervals (providing greater detail to study time series). 

11 
The other difference between the two sources is their method of firm size classification. SUSB uses 

the start period in classifying firm size for each individual firm and measures the difference in 

employment for each firm based on their end period employment minus their start period 

employment; this is often referred to as “start year sizing.” BED uses a firm’s start period size and 

classifies all employment changes at that size class until the firm changes into another size 

classification, even if this occurs during the period of analysis. BLS refers to this as “dynamic 

sizing.” Note that one data source does not produce correct data and the other wrong data, they 

merely answer questions based on their different methodology. The BED method responds to the 

issue of “regression to the mean” or the tendency for a firm to revert to its relatively steady-state 

size after a shock of growth or decline. However, one could view the SUSB methodology of 

counting all of a growth or decline for a firm based on the start size as more appropriate. It is 

interesting to note that only a handful of firms cross the size threshold of 500 employees in any 

given year, and fewer still in a quarter; but these firms can have a discernible impact on net job 

creation figures for small firms, as BED and SUSB figures differ. Firms cross the 20-employee 

threshold in much greater numbers, so job statistics for the 20-499 employee size class differ 

substantially between the BED and SUSB figures. It is up to the user to recognize whether the 

methodology differences produce results that differ and which methodology matches the question 

they are trying to answer. Using BED data is a more conservative approach in evaluating small 

business job creation contributions and results in a smaller share of net new jobs from small firms. 

Size of Change. The firm age and firm size findings can lead one to ask the question of whether a 

relatively few fast growers or gazelles may be driving the results. Definitions of “fast growing 

firms” or David Birch’s “gazelles” may differ, but most agree that these companies are relatively 

rare and old. By one recent account, they represent 2-3 percent of all employer firms and are on 

average 25 years old (Birch, 1979; Acs et al., 2008). 

The creation of new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics has made a new type of analysis 

possible; this school of analysis focuses on relatively small or large employment swings, or more 

specifically, the size of quarterly employment change from establishments (Konigsberg, et al., 

2009). This approach helps identify which establishments are the more significant contributor to 

12 
net new jobs: the large number of business locations that add or subtract a small number of 

employees or the small number of business locations that add or subtract a large number. By the 

numbers, about 50,000 establishments add 20 or more employees in a quarter; about 50,000 lose 20 

or more employees; about 1.3 million to 1.5 million add 1 to 4 employees, and about 1.3 million to 

1.5 million lose 1 to 4 employees. 

Our labor market is getting big things from big swings. Establishments with quarterly employment 

swings of 20 or more employees have consistently been the net employment driver over time. From 

1992 to the beginning of 2009, establishments with employment changes of 20 or more accounted 

for 57 percent of the net employment change. Businesses with small employment changes (1-4) 

accounted for 14 percent of total employment change (see Figure 5).

Figure 6 shows quarterly employment changes by size of change; the peaks and valleys of the 

establishments with big swings (those that lost or added 20 jobs or more) dominate the employment 

picture in good times and bad. 

Figure 5. Big movers on net are job creators. 

Net New Jobs by Establishment Employment Size 

Change Categories, 1993-2009q2

1-4, 

14.2%

5-19, 

28.6%

20+, 

57.2%

Note: Represents the net result of jobs gained and lost by an establishment in a quarter.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, from data provided by the 

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics.

13 
Figure 6. Big movers are more volatile. 

Employment Changes by Size of 

Establishment Change, 1992-2009q2

(thousands, seasonally adjusted)

-1,200

-800

-400

0

400

800

1,200

1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010

1-4 employees 5-19 employees 20+ employees

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, from data 

provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business 

Employment Dynamics.

Current Events: Small Firm Job Creation and Today’s Economy 

With the labor market struggling in recent years, small businesses are a logical group to look to for 

job recovery as they have such a large role in net job creation. The following section shows how 

differing sub-sectors of small business have reacted in previous downturns in the area of job 

creation and loss, and how they are currently faring. 

In the current downturn, firms with fewer than 20 employees were hit hard early, as their string of 

employment losses dates back to the second quarter of 2007. However, firms with 20 to 499 

employees have taken their beating more recently. BED shows that firms with fewer than 20 

employees accounted for 24 percent of the net job loss from 2008 to the second quarter of 2009; 

firms with 20 to 499 accounted for 36 percent; and firms with more than 500 employees accounted 

for 40 percent (see Figure 7). 

14 
Figure 7. Job creation around business cycles can differ. 

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, from data 

provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 

Business Employment Dynamics.

-10

0

10

20

30

Millions

<20 20-499 500+

Net New Jobs by Firm Size, 1992-2009q2

In the 2001 downturn, larger small firms had more than their share of net employment losses. In 

that economic slowdown, firms with 20 to 499 employees experienced 43 percent of the net 

employment loss; firms with fewer than 20 employees accounted for 7 percent; and firms with 500 

or more employees, 50 percent. As the economy began to accelerate in 2002, firms with fewer than 

20 employees created net new jobs while firms with 500 or more employees continued to shed jobs, 

as did firms with 20-499 employees, but to a lesser extent. 

The period after the 1991 downturn saw firms with 20-499 employees lead the employment 

expansion while large firms were slower to get traction in net employment gains. The share of 

employment gains coming from firms with 20-499 employees was 56.2 percent from the second 

quarter of 1992 to the first quarter of 1993. 

Prior to the release of the 2009 figures on net job destruction by firm size, it seemed that the current 

downturn resembled the 1991 period more than 2001. This seemed apt, since the 1991 period and 

current troubles are steeped in credit market woes, while the 2001 downturn was very much related 

15 
to asset market drops. But a review of the 2009 data makes the current downturn seem like a 

combination of the 1991 and the 2001 downturns, rather than one or the other. 

Two new developments in the recent decade have also had important consequences for the labor 

market: the declining size of establishment start-ups and the declining turnover in the labor market. 

Over the past decade, the mean start-up size of establishments has been declining (see Figure 8). 

The trend for the mean start-up of firms has been more mixed.16 Whatever the cause of the decline 

in start-up establishment size during and following the 2001 downturn, it is a worry; it seems to 

show a reduced degree of churning or creative destruction, and perhaps a decreased appetite for 

entrepreneurial risk-taking. 

Figure 8. Employment size of start-ups is falling. 

Mean Employment Size of Establishment and 

Firm Start-Ups, 1993-2009q2

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

5.5

6.0

6.5

7.0

1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009

Employees

Establishment start-ups

Firm start-ups

Note: Census data reflect an average of the firms that began during the year as measured in 

March, so on average the data represent start-up firm's employment size at month 6.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, from data provided by the 

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, BED and U.S. Department of 

Commerce, Census Bureau, SUSB.

The second trend concerns job turnover. Overall, employment turnover at the firm level has fallen 

over the past seven years as measured in BLS’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (or 

 

16 These are not necessarily inconsistent trends, as firms are measured on an annual basis and might be starting smaller 

and then growing in the first few months; data on quarterly establishment births would not capture growth in the months 

following the quarter in which a business opened. 

16 
JOLTS) and BED. BED shows the rate of new establishment start-ups being way down over the 

last couple of years, while JOLTS shows the rate of companies with new hires also at a low in 

recent years. (One caveat: JOLTS is a relatively new survey, having started at the end of 2000). 

According to JOLTS the monthly private separation rate (total separations as a share of total private 

employment) was in the upper 4 percent range in 2001; it hovered around 4 percent for most of 

2008 and fell to the high-3 percent range for the mid- to late part of 2009. The job hires rate (total 

hires as a share of total private employment) declined from 4.7 percent in January 2001 to 4.2 

percent by December, and from 4.0 percent in January 2008 to 3.6 percent in November 2009. So 

overall, job turnover is lower in the current period than it was in 2001, but the components of 

turnover differ, and this period is seeing a marked decline in hiring (see Figure 9). 

The share of jobs that were from establishments gaining employment dropped from 8 percent in the 

first quarter of 2000 to the high-6 percent range in 2007, and then down to 5.2 percent in the first 

quarter of 2009, a low for the 17-year period that the BED data cover (Figure 10). Employment 

from establishment openings also was at the period low in the fourth quarter of 2008, 0.7 percent, 

which was almost half the peak reached in the 1990s (1.2 percent). The share of jobs from 

establishments losing employment was in the mid-7 percent range in the early 1990s, and excluding 

the 8.1 percent peak in the third quarter of 2001, it fell to the mid-6 percent range in the early 2000s. 

Reflecting the recent weak labor market, the figure has risen to 7.7 percent for the first quarter of 

2009. 

When we consider these results in the context of our current downturn, it appears that the media 

story of a few big firms’ layoffs driving employment losses is more myth than fact. The lack of 

firm expansions is as much a factor in net employment losses as firm employment contractions. 

Unfortunately, the contribution of expansions to employment levels for the first quarter of 2009 was 

at a 17-year low and well below 2001 rates, while contractions were at the peak reached in 2001. 

17 
Figure 9. Sluggish hiring more a factor in employment decline than job losses. 

Job Hires and Separations, 2001-2009

(private-sector)

3

4

5

6

2002 2004 2006 2008 2010

Percent

Hires

Separations

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, from data provided by 

the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor 

Turnover Survey.

Figure 10. Employment turnover is declining. 

Share of Employment from Establishment 

Expansions and Contractions, 1992-2009q2

3.5

4.5

5.5

6.5

1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009

Percent

Expansions

Contractions

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, from data provided 

by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment 

Dynamics.

18 
Concluding Remarks: The Information Age and Data Breakthroughs 

Relatively new public data sources on aggregate business dynamics provide a world of facts that 

rival the statistics available to fantasy sports league enthusiasts. The new data are creating a new 

view of the dynamics of the labor market. One could argue that start-ups are incredibly valuable to 

the labor market in the long term, and continuing firms tend to overwhelm current employment 

trends (or even vice versa) but in actuality, the results shown in this report indicate that findings 

often depend upon how the analysis is framed (or what data methodology is used). It is the business 

locations or establishments with large employment fluctuations that not only dominate net 

employment results but tend to move around the most in response to the economy. Unfortunately 

from 2008 to mid-2009, establishments with employment swings of 20 or more employees on net 

lost 2.8 million jobs. 

Whatever the mechanism our economy uses to heal the job market, big gains are possible in a 

relatively short time frame. When unemployment rates peaked in previous downturns (above 7.5 

percent in 1958, 1975, 1982, and 1992), within 12 months, they had declined by 2.4 percent (1958), 

1.6 percent (1975), 2.3 percent (1982), and 0.8 percent (1992). It is possible that such a reversal has 

begun in the current downturn as the unemployment rate dropped from 10.1 percent in October 

2009 to 9.7 percent in January 2010. 

19 
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Brown, Charles, James Hamilton, and James Medoff, Employers Large and Small, Harvard 

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