African American-Owned Businesses on the Rise

ABC News’ Arlette Saenz reports:

The number of black-owned businesses in the U.S. increased by 60.5% to 1.9 million between 2002 and 2007, more than triple the national rate according to U.S. Census data released Tuesday. The number of businesses across the country increased by 18% in the same amount of time.

Black-owned businesses, which are defined by the government as firms with African-American owners holding a 51% or larger stake in the business, raked in $137 billion in sales and receipts and made up 7.1% of businesses nationwide in 2007, compared to 5.2% in 2002.

But while the number of black-owned businesses surged, many of these businesses remain small.

“Many black owned firms still remain very small businesses,” Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, said. “87% of all black-owned firms according to the survey earn less than $50,000 dollars a year in receipts.”

The data came from the Survey of Business Owners: Black-Owned Businesses: 2007, which provides detailed information every five years for black-owned businesses, including the number of firms, sales and receipts, number of paid employees and annual payroll.

The states with the most black-owned businesses in 2007 were New York (204,032), Georgia (183,874) and Florida (181,437) making up 10.6, 9.6, and 9.4 percent respectively of black-owned businesses nationwide.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/02/african-american-owned-businesses-on-the-rise.html