I, for one, am glad that I didn't have to make the choice, because each of them has so much to be proud of. But it's gratifying to see among your ranks a growing number of women and minority entrepreneurs. This demonstrates that our economic system is open and free to all who wish to pursue their dreams of success. Small business has also played a vital role in helping our country weather the economic storm from which we're now emerging. You laid off fewer workers than big business and will be on the cutting edge of economic recovery.
Somebody can go into business right now with a silencer of sirens.
From July 1981 through December 1982, finance, insurance, and real estate, a sector dominated by small firms, actually gained about 65,000 new jobs, while the service sector, also dominated by small firms, added some 535,000 new jobs. Much has been said and written about the high rate with these last few years of small business failures, but not so much has been said about the other side of the coin. In 1981 a record of 580,000 new businesses were formed, and in 1982, some 560,000. There's no question that we're all concerned about unemployment. And perhaps this is where small business plays its greatest role in the economy.