Small business works for California
Most California businesses are small... very small
California is home to more than 2.1 million full-time businesses; one for every 14 men, women and children in the state.
Nearly two-thirds (64 %) of these businesses are operated by sole-proprietors, working without any paid employees.
Virtually all of the remaining businesses are small. Among these "employer firms" (businesses providing full-time jobs to people other than the owners): Ninety-nine out of 100 have fewer than 500 employees.
More than three-quarters (78 %) have fewer than 10 employees.
Most (60 %) have fewer than five employees.
Small Business is California's Biggest Employer and Greatest Job Generator
In addition to providing a livelihood for their own families, California's small-business owners provide more than half of all wage-and-salary jobs in the state's private sector.
From 1991 to 1995, the only size-category of firms to add jobs was firms with fewer than 20 employees.
While their larger competitors were trimming their workforces, small California firms (those with fewer than 100 employees) increased their job roles during the '91-'95 period in the three major sectors of the state's economy.
Small service firms expanded job roles by 4.3 % (v. a 1.1 percent decrease by larger service firms).
Small wholesalers and retailers increased jobs by 1.9 % (v. a 1.6 percent drop among larger members of the wholesale and retail trades).
Small manufacturers grew by a healthy 7.8% (v. a 4.9 percent cut in jobs among larger manufacturers).
