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Women Employer Firms Continue to Show Strength
WASHINGTON -- Between 1997 and 2001, women-owned employer establishments were just as likely as all employer establishments to have remained in business and exhibited more employment resiliency than average, a new report published by the National Women's Business Council found.As the result of an agreement with the Census Bureau, the council is now publishing information on trends in the number and employment of women-owned employer establishments by state and industry. This is the only such data available annually between Census years, according to Marilyn Carlson Nelson, chairman and chief executive officer of Carlson Companies and council chairwoman.More than two-thirds (69.8%) of the employer business locations in existence in 1997 were still in operation four years later in 2001, the report found. 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). "This analysis shows that women-owned firms are a strong, vital force in the nation's economy-losing fewer employees and surviving at equal rates when compared to all businesses," Nelson said. "It's further testament to women's business leadership."As expected, four-year survival rates are somewhat lower than the three-year rates shown in a similar analysis published one year ago that studied changes over the 1997 to 2000 period. That analysis, published in January 2004, found that 75.1% of women-owned employer establishments in existence in 1997 were still in operation as of 2000, as were 75.5% of all employer establishments. Then, as now, women-owned businesses exhibit the same tenacity and survival rates as the average U.S. employer firm.The National Women's Business Council is a bi-partisan federal government council created to serve as an independent source of advice and counsel to the President, Congress, and the U.S. Small Business Administration on economic issues of importance to women business owners.Visit the National Women's Business Council"