FACTS ABOUT WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERS 5/95

* Women business owners are starting businesses at twice the
rate of their male counterparts. (Source: SBA)

* Women employ 11 million workers, more than the Fortune 500
worldwide. (Source: National Foundation for Women Business
Owners)

* Between the 1982 and 1987 Economic Census, women-owned
businesses increased 57.5 percent from 2.6 million to 4.1
million. As of 1987, women-owned firms generated over $278
billion in sales and had a payroll of nearly $41 billion.

* It is projected that by the year 2000 women will own 40
percent of all businesses.

* 1987 Census: Nearly 400,000 businesses are owned and
operated by women of color.

* 158,000 African American women-owned firms
* 115,000 Hispanic women-owned firms
* 112,000 Asian/Pacific women-owned firms
* 6,000 Native American/Alaska Native women-owned firms

Despite great accomplishments, women still face barriers.

* As of the 1987 Census: Women-owned businesses represented
30 percent of all businesses but received only 14 percent of
business receipts.

* Women-owned firms vary greatly in size. While some are
among the largest and most successful in the country,
average receipts are modest and continue to lag
substantially behind male-owned firms. Though average
receipts of all women-owned firms grew by 183 percent
between 1982 and 1987 - from $37,622 to $67,595 -- average
receipts of male-owned firms in 1987 were substantially
higher. In the area of sole proprietorships, the most
common form of business ownership for both men and women,
the average receipts for non-farm sole proprietorships were
$17, 889 as compared with $54,594 for those owned by men.

* Two-thirds of women business owners report problems in
working with financial institutions and rely to a great
extent on credit card to finance their enterprises.

* Business opportunities in the private public sector are
usually less available to women-owned business. Less than
two percent of federal government prime contracts currently
go to women.

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