Women -Owned Firms Continue To Show Strength
Women-owned employer establishments are just as likely as all employer establishments to have remained in business, and exhibited more employment resiliency than average according to “Trends in Women-Owned Employer Establishments: 1997 to 2001” published by the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC).
As the result of an agreement made with the Census Bureau, the NWBC is now publishing information on trends in the number and employment of women-owned employer establishments by state and industry.
The data, available annually between Census years, allows the NWBC to provide more detailed and timely intelligence on trends in women’s entrepreneurship.
“Trends in Women- Owned Employer Establishments: 1997 to 2001” focuses on two key measures: survival and changes in employment, featuring detailed tables by state and industry.
More than two-thirds (69.8%) of the employer business locations in existence in 1997 were still in operation four years later in 2001. Women-owned employer establishments were nearly as likely to have remained in business over the period (68.5% survived).
Women-owned employer firms proved to be more resilient than employer firms overall during the period, reporting a 9.3% decline in employment among those firms in business in 1997–compared to a 10.9% decline among all establishments.
Among those employer establishments that were still in business in 2001, similar percentages of women-owned and all establishments increased employment (42% and 43% respectively), while a great percentage of women-owned establishments held their employee base (27% compared to 24% of all businesses), and a smaller percentage of women-owned establishments saw a decrease in employment (31% compared to 33% of all businesses).
