National Small Business Day: A look inside the stats affecting small businesses

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) – May 10 marks National Small Business Day, which is set to highlight and celebrate small businesses around the country due to the impact they can have on the local economy. However, these businesses face unique challenges.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, 99.9% of businesses in America qualify as small businesses, with around 33.2 million of them operating in the county.

Woman owned small businesses make up around 43.2% of those companies, and about 61-million Americans are employed by a small business.

Small Businesses in Oklahoma

According to Oklahoma’s 2023 small business profile, Oklahoma had a total of 371,640 small businesses, which encompassed 99.4% of Oklahoma businesses. The construction industry contained the most small businesses in the Sooner State. A total of 49,140 small businesses were located in that industry.

Women made up 46.3% of small business workers and 43.2% of the small business owners in the state.

In terms of employment, small businesses in the state employed a combined 717,434 people, which accounted for 51% of Oklahoma employees.

The Health Care and Social Assistance industry held the most employees working for a small business in the state with 115,741 total employees.

Struggles Faced by Small Businesses

Small businesses face many unique struggles in their day-to-day dealings.

Currently, one of the highest concerns small business owners have is inflation, according to the National Association of Women Business Owners. Over the previous year, 74% of small businesses say they’re prices have gone up, and 52% say inflation is their top concern. That is a 22% increase since 2021.

These concerns have been compounded with a perceived tough labor market.

Out of the 4.4 million businesses which are started up every year, about half of them fail by year five. Around 65% of small businesses fail by the 10th year.

Struggles abound even before a person gets their small business up and running.

While it varies by state, the average cost of starting a small business in the United States is around $30,000. This leads people to financial institutions to obtain the needs to start their business. However, with rising interest rates, this could keep people from reaching their business goals.

To compound that, SBA loans only have a 25% approval rate at large banks compared to a 49% approval rate at small banks.

For women, this statistic is even more stark.

In a recent study, it was found that female small business owners are typically given smaller loans than their male counterparts. That 2020 study saw women-owned businesses getting an average loan amount of $49,712, compared to an average amount of $83,198 for men-owned businesses.

7News took to Facebook to ask people what are their favorite small businesses in the area. You can find that post below and if you click on it, you can comment your favorite small business as well.

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