BUSINESS OWNERS
2012 Survey of Business Owners In August, the U.S. Census Bureau released preliminary results from their 2012 Survey of Business Owners (SBO), featuring information collected from approximately 1.75 million American businesses. According to the bureau, the survey “provides the only comprehensive, regularly collected source of information on selected economic and demographic characteristics for businesses and business owners by gender, ethnicity, race, and veteran status.”
businesses will continue to flourish and contribute to our society, economy and culture. To learn more about the survey and its results, please visit www. census.gov/econ/sbo. To view the NWBC’s fact sheets, please visit www.nwbc.gov/facts.
After starting as a project for minority-owned businesses in 1969, the survey was eventually integrated into the economic census in 1972, and data has since been collected every five years. Last released in 2010, full results from the SBO’s 2012 installment will be published in December 2015. The National Women’s Business Council (NWBC), a non-partisan federal advisory council that advises the President, Congress and the U.S. Small Business Administration on economic issues concerning women business owners, compiled the 2012 preliminary results into fact sheets. From these fact sheets NAWRB created the infographic below. As the bar graph illustrates, veteran, Asian-American, Hispanic, Black and White women-owned businesses all grew considerably in number from 2007 to 2012. These increases are inspirational figures to present and hopeful women business owners; they are also a testament to the resilience and power of women entrepreneurs, who are thriving despite enduring significant disadvantages in the business sector. The overarching takeaway from these statistics is that women-owned businesses are growing and prospering in the U.S., increasing by over 27 percent since 2007. As support for women entrepreneurs continues to grow, and dedicated organizations continue fighting to provide them with equal opportunities, women-owned
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