Today the Office of Advocacy released the annual Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories. This is the 16th year Advocacy has published a state-by-state profile of American small business for the United States, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. The profiles are an invaluable resource for small businesses, legislators, academics, government officials, and policymakers in each state. The profiles use the most recent data available to provide details about each state's small business employment; business starts and closings; bank lending; business ownership by minorities, women, and veterans; and firm and employment change by major industry and firm size.

"Small businesses are the foundation of our nation's economic growth," said Dr. Winslow Sargeant, Chief Counsel for Advocacy. "By supporting policies that promote innovation and entrepreneurship, we help small businesses tackle these challenging economic times. These statistics are a resource for a path to economic growth."

Here are some highlights from the United States' small business profile:

• There were 26.8 million small businesses in the United States in 2009. Of these, 5,749,797 were employers and they accounted for 49.2 percent of private sector jobs in the state. Small firms made up 99.7 percent of U.S. employers.
• Throughout 2010, the number of opening establishments was lower than closing establishments but the net employment change from this turnover was positive.
• The United States' real gross domestic product decreased 1.3 percent and private-sector employment decreased 0.8 percent percent in 2010.
• Self-employment in the United States surged over the last decade. Minority self-employment fared the best compared with other demographic groups during the decade.

State profiles from previous years are available at http://archive.sba.gov/advo/research/profiles; these provide a historical perspective of each state economy.

For more information and a complete copy of the current state and territory small business profiles, visit the Office of Advocacy website at http://www.sba.gov/advocacy/848/41391.