Small businesses (less than 500 employees) account for 99% of all firms in the United States and employ about half of the total employees. They also represent between 60% to 80% of all new jobs created within the last 10 years. Small businesses are innovative. They produce 13 times more patents per employee that large firms. There are 637,000 new employer firms created each year and 560,000 are closed each year. Two-thirds of new employers companies survive two years, 44 percent survive four years and 31 percent survive at least 7 years.

Small businesses are truly the back bone of our economy.