The Small Business Economy in 2007

The 2008 edition of "The Small Business Economy" documents the small business role in the economy of 2007 and includes chapters focusing on financing, procurement, international trade, small business training and development, tax policy, business creation and regulation.

Small businesses, like the rest of the economy in 2007, faced an economic slowdown. The economy experienced solid growth in the first and fourth quarters, but began and ended the year with real GDP up only slightly.

According to the report from the Office of Advocacy with the U.S. Small Business Administration:

• Housing starts, which had increased rapidly since 1990, dropped to 1 million homes by December 2007.
• Exporting was among the stronger positive factors. Real exports rose 8.1 percent, while real imports increased 1.9 percent.
• Increases in service sector employment more than offset declines in goods-producing employment. The economy generated 1.1 million new jobs over the year.
• In the first quarter, 74 percent of net new jobs were in small firms with fewer than 500 employees. Third quarter data saw declining net job change in all firm size classes.
• Incorporated self-employment rose from 5.5 million in 2006 to 5.8 million in 2007; unincorporated self-employment fell from 10.6 million to 10.4 million.

The research summary and the complete report are available online in PDF format.

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