My Administration's economic program will enhance the ability of small business to meet these challenges. Small businesses can make several important contributions to economic recovery. About forty percent of private sector employment is in small, independently-owned businesses. We need to recognize the small business role in our economy, particularly in job creation. This is especially important in light of current high levels of unemployment.
Small businesses are important sources of product and process innovations.
Small business efforts provide needed flexibility for our economy to meet foreign competition and changing economic realities. There exists a great reservoir of export potential in the small business community and we need to make greater efforts to use that resource. Inflation, high interest rates, excessive taxation, and burdensome regulation are serious problems for small business, and their abatement has been the key goal of my economic program. While we have made much progress on these fronts, our most important small business priority remains the assurance of an economic climate of opportunity for small businesses to grow and prosper. The Federal government is imposing fewer regulations and less paperwork on small business, and agencies are working with the Regulatory Flexibility Act to minimize the burden of regulations on small firms.