Issue in Brief
                        February 2005 

Trends in Women-Owned Employer Establishments:

1997 to 2001 

The NWBC has entered into a ground-breaking agreement with the Census Bureau to produce annual tabulations 

on trends in the number and employment of women-owned employer establishments by state and industry. These 

are the only data available annually between Census years, and allow us to provide a detailed, more up-to-date 

picture of trends in women’s entrepreneurship. This issue in brief looks at changes between 1997 and 2001, looking 

at two key measures: survival and changes in employment. These measures allow us to examine the stability and 

growth of existing businesses and their locations. Industry- and state-level changes are investigated to allow an 

understanding of not only the overall picture, but detailed trends. This issue in brief looks at establishments—or 

locations—in total, rather than focusing on individual businesses at the enterprise level. 

Background1 In 1997, more than 97 percent of businesses with paid 

In 1997, women owned more than 5.4 million non-farm employees—both women-owned and in total—consisted 

businesses, generating $818.7 billion in business revenues.2 of a single establishment. Among women-owned employer 

Sixteen percent (15.6%) of these business enterprises3 had firms, those with a single location accounted for 78 percent 

a paid employee or employees other than the owner, of the employment and 69 percent of the revenues of all 

employing in total nearly 7.1 million people. women-owned employer firms, while multipleestablishment firms accounted for 22 percent of This Issue in Brief describes trends among just those employment and 31 percent of revenues of all women- enterprises with at least one paid employee at any point owned employer firms. Among all employer firms, those during 1997 and focuses on business establishments—or 

locations.4 with a single location accounted for 47 percent of the Comparisons are made to all establishments, employment and 34 percent of the revenues of all which also include only those with at least one paid employer firms, while multiple-establishment firms employee during 1997. accounted for 53 percent of the employment at 66 percent 

of the revenues of all employer firms. 

1 The Census Bureau’s Economic Census is the major source of 

detailed information about the structure and functioning of the Business Establishment Survival 

Nation’s economy. Title 13 of the United States Code directs the More than two-thirds (69.8%) of the employer business Census Bureau to take the economic census every five years, locations in existence in 1997 were still in operation four covering years ending in 2 and 7. The most recently available years later. Women-owned employer establishments were statistics come from the 1997 Economic Census, published in 

2001. nearly as likely to have remained in business over the 2 Women-owned firms include only privately-held firms with period (68.5% survived). 

51% or more ownership by a woman or women. 

3 An enterprise is a business organization consisting of one or As expected, these four-year survival rates are somewhat 

more domestic establishments (locations) that were specified lower than the three-year rates. In our previous Issue in Brief 

under common ownership or control. 

4 analyzing changes over the 1997-2000 period (published in The following example illustrates the difference between January 2004), three-quarters (75.1%) of women-owned establishments and enterprises: if a business consolidated 

multiple locations and employees into a single location, we employer establishments in existence in 1997 were still in 

would see a decrease in the number of establishments without a operation as of 2000, as were 75.5% of all employer 

corresponding decrease in either enterprises or employment. 

This is important to consider, as an establishment “death” does 

not necessarily equate to a business enterprise closure. 

establishments. Then—as now—women-owned businesses 

exhibit the same tenacity and survival rates as the average 

U.S. employer firm. 

409 3rd Street, SW, Suite 210  Washington, DC 20024  202-205-3850 (p)  202-205-6825 (f)  www.nwbc.gov 
 

Across the United States, survival rates among womenowned businesses appear to be strongest in the Northeast 

and Mid-Atlantic—six out of the ten states with the 

highest survival rates were in these regions. 5 

The ten states with the highest survival rates from 1997 to 

2001 among women-owned employer establishments were: 

x Connecticut (74.4% survival) 

x New York (74.4%) 

x Hawaii (73.2%) 

x Illinois (71.8%) 

x New Hampshire (71.7%) 

x Maryland (71.6%) 

x Nebraska (71.5%) 

x Massachusetts (71.5%) 

x Rhode Island (71.2%) 

x California (71.2%) 

Three of these states 

(Nebraska, Massachusetts, and 

Maryland) also ranked in the 

top ten based on survival rates 

among all establishments. 

The ten states with the lowest 

survival rates from 1997 to 

2001 among women-owned 

employer establishments were: 

x Tennessee (60.5%) 

x Arkansas (61.3%) 

x Arizona (62.2%) 

x Mississippi (62.4%) 

x Nevada (63.4%) 

x Utah (64.1%) 

x Washington (64.2%) 

x Alaska (64.2%) 

x Oregon (64.3%) 

x Delaware (64.3%) 

5 It is interesting to note that the best-performing states do not 

necessarily correlate to the fastest-growing states for womenowned businesses, as discussed in recent research. The rankings 

discussed here are based on the stability and growth of existing 

businesses and locations, as opposed to new business growth. 

Additionally, this Issue in Brief examines only enterprises with 

employees. 

Survival Rates Among Women-Owned 

Establishments, 1997 to 2001 

Well-Above Average

 Above Average 

Average 

Below Average 

Well Below Average 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau tabulations, prepared under contract to the National Women's Business Council 

Four of these states (Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and 

Washington) also ranked in the bottom ten based on 

survival rates among all establishments. 

Survival rates between 1997 and 2001 were highest for 

women-owned employer establishments in these 

industries: 

x Agriculture/Forestry/ Fishing (73.1% survival) 

x Construction (72.2%) 

x Retail Trade (72.1%) 

x Finance/Insurance/Real 

Estate (69.4%) 

x Manufacturing (68.9%) 

Looking at more detailed 

industry categories, nine of 

the fifteen detailed industry 

categories with the highest 

survival rates for womenowned employer 

establishments are found in 

Manufacturing: 

x Manufacturing—
 

Petroleum/Coal 

Products (91.9%) 

x Finance/Insurance/Real Estate—Depository 

Institutions (85.9%) 

x Agriculture—Fishing, Hunting and Trapping (83.8%) 

x Manufacturing—Chemicals (83.1%) 

x Manufacturing—Paper (82.2%) 

x Manufacturing—Tobacco (80.0%) 

x Mining—Nonmetallic Minerals (79.7%) 

x Manufacturing—Fabricated Metal (78.7%) 

x Retail Trade—Building Materials & Garden Supplies 

(77.9%) 

x Manufacturing—Instruments (76.3%) 

x Retail—Automotive Dealers & Service Stations 

(75.9%) 

x Manufacturing—Industrial Machinery and Equipment 

(75.7%) 

x Manufacturing—Rubber (75.5%) 

x Finance/Insurance/Real Estate—Security and 

Commodity Brokers (82.1%); 

x TCPU—Transportation by Air (75.5%) 

x Manufacturing—Lumber and Wood (75.4%) 

NWBC Trends in Women-Owned Employer Establishments: 1997–2001 2 
Trends in Employment 

In addition to examining survival, business health may also 

be measured by employment growth. Looking at those 

employer firms that were in business in 1997, there was a 

net loss of employment of 

10.9 percent between 1997 

and 2001.6 Women-owned 

employer firms proved to 

be more resilient over the 

period, with a 9.3 percent 

decline in employment 

among those firms in 

business in 1997. This is 

due in large part to job 

growth from womenowned establishments that 

expanded their employee 

base over this period. 

These findings are similar 

to those found in the 

1997-2000 analysis, which 

saw a net job loss of 6.7% 

over the period among all employer establishments, 

compared with a lower 4.2% decline among womenowned employer firms. 

Among those employer establishments that were still in 

business in 2001, similar percentages of women-owned 

and all establishments increased employment (42% and 

43%, respectively), while a greater percentage of womenowned establishments held their employee base (27%, 

compared to 24% of all businesses) and a smaller 

percentage of women-owned establishments saw a 

decrease in employment (31%, compared to 33% of all 

businesses). 

6 Establishments that were formed after 1997 are not included in 

these tabulations. Thus, references to changes in employment 

refer to changes from 1997 to 2001 among only those 

establishments in existence in 1997 and do not take into account 

new firm creation since that time. According to a new Census 

Bureau working paper, start-ups in the first two years of 

operation accounted for virtually all of the net new jobs in the 

economy. Factoring in new firm formation, overall employment 

grew by 4.1% between December 1997 and December 2001, 

according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor 

Statistics. 

Employment Growth Among Women-Owned 

Establishments, 1997 to 2001 

Well-Above Average

 Above Average 

Average 

Below Average 

Well Below Average 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau tabulations, prepared under contract to the National Women's Business Council 

Stated another way, among the surviving women-owned 

employer establishments, those that expanded employment 

outnumbered those that shed jobs—fully 42 percent 

expanded their employment between 1997 and 2001, while 

27 percent saw their employment remain the same, and 31 

percent contracted, or 

decreased the number of 

employees. 

Similarly, among the 

surviving establishments in 

total, 43 percent expanded 

their employment between 

1997 and 2001, 24 percent 

saw their employment 

remain the same, and 33 

percent contracted, or 

decreased the number of 

employees. 

From 1997 to 2001, four 

states (New Jersey, Maine, 

Pennsylvania, and New 

York) saw growth in 

employment among women-owned establishments, while 

no states experienced growth in employment among all 

establishments. 

The ten states with the greatest growth (or smallest 

declines) in employment from 1997 to 2001 among 

women-owned establishments were: 

x New Jersey (18.7% growth in employment) 

x Maine (4.7%) 

x Pennsylvania (3.2%) 

x New York (2.3%) 

x Colorado (-0.4%) 

x Delaware (-4.4%) 

x Illinois (-4.6%) 

x Maryland (-4.7%) 

x New Hampshire (-5.2%) 

x Utah (-5.4%) 

Three of these states (Maine, Colorado and New 

Hampshire) also ranked in the top ten based on 

employment change among all establishments. 

As with survival rates, employment change among womenowned businesses is strongest in the Northeast and MidAtlantic regions, with seven out of ten states with the 

NWBC Trends in Women-Owned Employer Establishments: 1997–2001 3 
highest change in employment in these regions. New York, 

Illinois, Maryland, and New Hampshire ranked among the 

top ten states for women-owned establishments on both 

survival and employment change. 

The eleven states with the largest declines in employment 

from 1997 to 2001 among women-owned establishments 

were: 

x New Mexico (-23.5%) 

x South Dakota (-23.4%) 

x North Dakota (-22.6%) 

x Louisiana (-21.7%) 

x Nebraska (-20.5%) 

x Tennessee (-19.8%) 

x Mississippi (-19.5%) 

x West Virginia (-18.3%) 

x District of Columbia (-18.1%) 

x Idaho (-17.9%) 

x North Carolina (-17.9%) 

Five of these states (New Mexico, Louisiana, Tennessee, 

Mississippi, and West Virginia) also ranked in the bottom 

ten based on employment change among all 

establishments. Mississippi and Tennessee ranked among 

the bottom ten states for women-owned establishments on 

both survival and employment change. 

From 1997 to 2001, two industries—Agriculture/ 

Forestry/Fishing and Wholesale Trade—saw growth in 

employment among women-owned establishments, while 

no industries saw growth in employment among all 

establishments. Three out of five of the top industries 

based on survival rates among women-owned 

establishments were also the top industries in terms of 

employment growth. The industries with the greatest 

growth (or smallest decline) in employment from 1997 to 

2001 among women-owned establishments were: 

x Agriculture/Forestry/Fishing (6.1% growth in 

employment) 

x Wholesale Trade (1.8%) 

x Manufacturing (-5.5%) 

x Finance/Insurance/Real Estate (-8.6%) 

x Services (-11.6%) 

Looking at more detailed industry categories, six of the 

fifteen strongest industry categories based on employment 

change are found in Services: 

x Services—Not classified (23.1%) 

x Services—Museums and Botanical & Zoological 

Gardens (15.7%) 

x Finance/Insurance/Real Estate—Depository 

Institutions (11.7%) 

x Agriculture/Forestry/Fishing—Agricultural Services 

(6.5%) 

x Services—Engineering and Management Services 

(4.2%) 

x Construction—Special Trade Contractors (2.9%) 

x Construction—Heavy Construction excluding 

Building (2.6%) 

x Manufacturing— Chemicals (0.5%) 

x Retail—Building materials & garden supplies (0.3%) 

x Manufacturing— Paper (0.0%) 

x Services—Amusement and Recreation Services (-

0.6%) 

x Finance/Insurance/Real Estate—Insurance agents, 

brokers and services (-0.9%) 

x Services—Business Services (-1.9%) 

x Services— Social Services (-2.7%) 

x Manufacturing—Electronic & Other Electric 

Equipment (-3.5%) 

Conclusions and Recommendations 

Women-owned employer establishments showed similar 

rates of survival as all establishments from 1997 to 2001, 

with more than two-thirds of establishments still in 

existence after four years. While variations in survival were 

seen across the U.S.— with the Northeast and MidAtlantic states outperforming other areas of the country— 

even the states with the lowest levels of survival saw at 

least six in ten women-owned employer establishments 

surviving from 1997 to 2001. Similarly, at least six in ten 

women-owned employer establishments in each industry 

survived over this time period, with some industries— 

Agribusiness, Construction and Retail— enjoying survival 

rates of more than 70%. 

Employment among women-owned establishments that 

were in existence in 1997 decreased by 9.3 percent between 

1997 and 2001, compared to 10.9 percent employment loss 

among all establishments. The growth in employment 

among women-owned establishments that expanded— 

that is, those establishments with more employees in 2001 

than in 1997—helped to offset losses in employment from 

those establishments that either closed or contracted 

NWBC Trends in Women-Owned Employer Establishments: 1997–2001 4 
(decreased employment between 1997 and 2001). Again, it 

is important to remember that a decrease in the number of 

establishments does not necessarily equate to the closure 

of a business enterprise, as consolidations and the like may 

explain establishment “deaths.” 

Among those employer establishments that were still in 

business in 2001, similar percentages of women-owned 

and all establishments increased employment, while a 

greater percentage of women-owned establishments held 

their employee base and a smaller percentage of womenowned establishments saw a decrease in employment. 

Among the surviving employer firms—both womenowned and in total— establishments that expanded 

employment outnumbered those that shed jobs. 

Despite overall losses in employment among womenowned establishments, Agribusiness and Wholesale 

Trade—as well as sub-industries within the Services, 

Finance/Insurance/Real Estate, Construction, 

Manufacturing, and Retail sectors—showed net 

employment gains from 1997 to 2001 among womenowned businesses. In a majority of industries— 

Agribusiness, Wholesale Trade, Manufacturing, 

Finance/Insurance/Real Estate, and Services— 

employment in women-owned establishments saw lower 

declines or greater gains than all establishments. 

As with survival rates, the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic 

regions outperformed the rest of the U.S., with seven of 

the ten states with the highest growth rates in employment 

among women-owned establishments falling in these 

regions. In contrast, just four of the ten states with the 

highest employment growth among all establishments were 

in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic regions. Thus, rather than 

attributing this growth to overall employment growth, 

there appear to be different factors at work for womenowned establishments. We recommend further 

investigation into these state and regional differences to 

uncover such factors. 

We continue to emphasize that, in between Census years, 

there would be great benefit in examining new firm 

creation, even if only among businesses with employees. 

We recommend that this data be collected and made 

available for analysis, to provide an even richer 

understanding of establishment dynamics and sources of 

employment gains and losses. 

Methodology 

The data used in this analysis was provided by the Census 

Bureau, using data based on the 1997 SWOBE7 survey. 

Establishments8 owned by the enterprises reported in the 

1997 SWOBE file were extracted and matched to the 1997 

data on the Business Information Tracking Series (BITS), a 

database containing longitudinal data (annual data from 

1989 through 2001) on virtually all non-farm U.S. business 

establishments with paid employees. Only those womenowned establishments with matching entries in the BITS 

are included in these tabulations. Using the BITS file, the 

Census Bureau was able to create longitudinal tabulations, 

which are tabulations that provide a study of business 

entities across a span of years. 

The tabulations make no attempt to track changes in 

ownership for those businesses that were identified as 

women-owned in 1997. Thus, the tabulations may include 

some establishments that were women-owned in 1997 but 

have changed ownership or undergone reorganization 

since 1997. Likewise, the tabulations do not include any 

women-owned establishment births or existing 

establishments which became women-owned after 1997. 

While the tabulations are at the establishment level, 

weights developed for the 1997 SWOBE survey were used. 

These weights were assigned at the enterprise level for the 

SWOBE; for this project, the enterprise weight was 

assigned to each of the establishments belonging to the 

enterprise. 

The 1997 SWOBE estimates were derived from a sample 

survey that was subject to sampling error. The sample size 

(which includes both SWOBE and SMOBE—The Survey 

of Minority-Owned Business Enterprises) was 2,532,911. 

This particular sample was one of a large number of all 

possible samples of the same size that could have been 

selected using the same sample design. Estimates derived 

from different samples would differ from each other. The 

relative standard error is a measure of the variability among 

the estimates from all possible samples. 

7 The Survey of Women-Owned Business Enterprises (SWOBE) 

provides basic economic data on businesses owned by women. 

8 An establishment is a single, physical location where business is 

conducted or where services or industrial operations are 

performed. 

NWBC Trends in Women-Owned Employer Establishments: 1997–2001 5 
All surveys and censuses are subject to non-sampling 

errors. Non-sampling errors are attributable to many 

sources, including coverage problems, imputation for 

missing data, and errors in data collection. Explicit 

measures of the effects of these non-sampling errors are 

not available for the 1997 SWOBE and therefore are 

unavailable for these tabulations. 

We are grateful to Ruth Runyan, Lee Wentela, Valerie 

Strang and Trey Cole at the Census Bureau for their 

assistance on this project. 

The National Women’s Business Council is a bi-partisan 

federal government body created to serve as an 

independent source of advice and policy recommendations 

to the President, Congress, and the U.S. Small Business 

Administration on economic issues of importance to 

women business owners. Members of the Council are 

prominent women business owners and leaders of 

women’s business organizations. For more information 

about the Council, its mission and activities, contact: 

National Women’s Business Council, 409 3rd Street, SW, 

Suite 210, Washington, DC 20024; phone: 202-205-3850; 

fax: 202-205-6825; email: info@nwbc.gov, Web site: 

http://www.nwbc.gov. 

Two data tables follow. 

NWBC Trends in Women-Owned Employer Establishments: 1997–2001 6 
 

 

Table 1: Survival Rates and Change in Employment for Employer Establishments By State 

Survival Rate 

1997–2001 

% Change in 

Employment 

1997-2001 

Rank in Survival Rate 

By State 

Rank in % Change in 

Employment By State 

WomenOwned All WomenOwned All WomenOwned All WomenOwned All 

U.S. 68.5 69.8 -9.3 -10.9 

Alabama 64.8 68.8 -11.4 -15.5 38 36 26 50 

Alaska 64.2 68.7 -13.9 -8.6 44 37 35 8 

Arizona 62.2 65.7 -6.5 -12.5 49 49 13 38 

Arkansas 61.3 68.4 -11.9 -10.3 50 41 29 22 

California 71.2 68.5 -14.5 -8.5 10 40 36 7 

Colorado 65.8 67.7 -0.4 -8.8 31 45 5 10 

Connecticut 74.4 72.1 -7.1 -11.5 1 14 15 30 

Delaware 64.3 69.4 -4.4 -14.0 42 32 6 46 

District of 

Columbia 66.7 72.3 -18.1 -9.7 28 12 43 17 

Florida 65.1 64.1 -13.7 -12.7 35 50 34 40 

Georgia 65.5 67.0 -10.1 -12.5 34 47 22 39 

Hawaii 73.2 71.6 -16.1 -12.7 3 17 39 41 

Idaho 65.1 68.1 -17.9 -10.7 36 42 42 25 

Illinois 71.8 71.8 -4.6 -9.9 4 16 7 19 

Indiana 66.4 71.5 -12.0 -10.5 30 19 30 23 

Iowa 67.6 73.8 -7.7 -7.8 21 3 17 4 

Kansas 67.3 71.1 -10.6 -12.2 22 21 24 34 

Kentucky 68.1 71.1 -13.5 -12.3 19 22 33 37 

Louisiana 69.3 70.0 -21.7 -14.2 18 27 48 47 

Maine 70.5 72.4 4.7 -6.0 13 11 2 3 

Maryland 71.6 70.0 -4.7 -10.8 6 28 8 27 

Massachusetts 71.5 72.8 -7.9 -9.0 8 9 18 13 

Michigan 69.4 71.5 -11.2 -13.2 16 18 25 42 

Minnesota 69.5 73.6 -10.0 -7.9 15 5 21 5 

Mississippi 62.4 69.2 -19.5 -14.8 48 34 45 49 

Missouri 65.6 70.3 -9.1 -12.3 32 25 19 36 

Montana 64.8 70.3 -6.4 -8.7 37 26 12 9 

Nebraska 71.5 73.6 -20.5 -9.8 7 6 47 18 

Nevada 63.4 63.6 -9.8 -9.4 47 51 20 16 

New 

Hampshire 71.7 72.1 -5.2 -3.5 5 15 9 2 

New Jersey 71.0 69.8 18.7 -10.8 11 31 1 26 

New Mexico 64.6 68.0 -23.5 -16.5 40 43 51 51 

New York 74.4 70.8 2.3 -10.2 2 23 4 21 

North Carolina 69.3 69.9 -17.9 -11.2 17 30 41 29 

North Dakota 66.7 74.2 -22.6 -8.9 26 1 49 12 

Ohio 68.0 73.1 -11.6 -11.5 20 8 28 31 

Oklahoma 70.5 69.1 -10.5 -12.2 14 35 23 33 

Oregon 64.3 68.6 -14.7 -13.8 43 38 37 45 

Pennsylvania 71.0 73.3 3.2 -11.1 12 7 3 28 

Rhode Island 71.2 72.5 -6.2 -10.5 9 10 11 24 

South Carolina 67.0 69.3 -17.5 -11.7 24 33 40 32 

South Dakota 64.8 72.3 -23.4 -8.5 39 13 50 6 

Tennessee 60.5 68.6 -19.8 -13.5 51 39 46 44 

NWBC Trends in Women-Owned Employer Establishments: 1997–2001 7 
Table 1: Survival Rates and Change in Employment for Employer Establishments By State 

Survival Rate 

1997–2001 

% Change in 

Employment 

1997-2001 

Rank in Survival Rate 

By State 

Rank in % Change in 

Employment By State 

WomenOwned All WomenOwned All WomenOwned All WomenOwned All 

Texas 67.0 67.4 -12.3 -12.2 23 46 31 35 

Utah 64.1 66.4 -5.4 -14.6 46 48 10 48 

Vermont 64.4 73.7 -12.7 -2.5 41 4 32 1 

Virginia 65.5 70.4 -6.8 -9.2 33 24 14 15 

Washington 64.2 67.8 -11.5 -10.0 45 44 27 20 

West Virginia 66.7 71.4 -18.3 -13.2 29 20 44 43 

Wisconsin 66.7 74.0 -7.5 -8.9 27 2 16 11 

Wyoming 66.8 69.9 -15.8 -9.2 25 29 38 14 

Table 2: Survival Rates and Change in Employment for Employer Establishments By Industry 

Survival Rate 

1997–2001 

% Change in Employment 

1997-2001 

Women-Owned All Women-Owned All 

Total, All Industries 68.5 69.8 -9.3 -10.9 

Agriculture/Forestry/Fishing 73.1 70.1 6.1 -1.9 

Construction 72.2 71.1 -12.1 -10.5 

Finance/Insurance/Real Estate 69.4 67.3 -8.6 -18.5 

Manufacturing 68.9 71.9 -5.5 -6.6 

Mining 62.5 67.6 -27.5 -20.2 

Retail Trade 72.1 73.5 -13.6 -12.9 

Services 63.3 64.6 -11.6 -13.9 

Transportation/Communications/Utilities 67.2 68.8 -16.8 -16.1 

Wholesale Trade 67.8 68.1 1.8 -0.1 

NWBC Trends in Women-Owned Employer Establishments: 1997–2001 8