Indeed, the
numbers are striking. Contrary to the oft-cited 26 million businesses in
America figure, Clifton says 20 million of these so-called “businesses” are
merely companies on paper with zero workers, profits, customers, or sales. In
reality, America has just 6 million businesses with one or more employers–3.8
million of which have four or fewer employees. In total, these 6 million U.S.
companies provide jobs for more than 100 million people in America.
Of the 2.2
million job-creating companies with five or more workers, the numbers break
down accordingly:
There are about a
million companies with five to nine employees, 600,000 businesses with 10 to 19
employees, and 500,000 companies with 20 to 99 employees. There are 90,000
businesses with 100 to 499 employees. And there are just 18,000 with 500
employees or more, and that figure includes about a thousand companies with
10,000 employees or more. Altogether, that is America, Inc.
The Gallup CEO
says the numbers paint an ominous portrait of America in a dire state of
decline.
“I don’t want to
sound like a doomsayer, but when small and medium-sized businesses are dying
faster than they’re being born, so is free enterprise,” says Clifton. “And when
free enterprise dies, America dies with it.”
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