Small Businesses Create Lions Share of Jobs in February

Ben Geyerhahn

Original statement issued on March 8, 2012:

Data released Wednesday by ADP shows the country’s smallest businesses—those with 1-49 employees—created half of all new jobs in the month of February, while small businesses overall accounted for a whopping 90 percent of all new jobs last month. Conversely, large businesses created only 10 percent of new jobs, illustrating that small businesses are indeed the country’s primary job creators and remain the backbone of the American economy.

Of the 216,000 new jobs created last month, the smallest businesses created 108,000, while those with 50-499 employees were responsible for another 88,000, according to ADP (Automatic Data Processing, Inc.).

Small businesses have been criticized recently for not being the job creators they’re often lauded as being. These numbers show unequivocally that criticism is unfounded.

Small businesses can and will pull our economy out of the doldrums, but they still need all the help they can get. We encourage lawmakers to focus on creating smart small business-friendly policies, such as those that will shore up credit for small employers, to keep the momentum going.