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EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EDT, JULY 26, 2001 (THURSDAY) Public Information Office CB01-126 301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax) 301-457-1037 (TDD) e-mail: pio@census.gov Carol Comisarow/Jerry Roth 301-457-2600 Nonemployer Businesses Near 16 Million; Nevada Grew the Fastest, Census Bureau Reports About 15.7 million of the nation's businesses had no paid employees in 1998, according to a report released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau. Nationwide, the number of nonemployer businesses grew by 1.7 percent or 269,118 businesses between 1997 and 1998. The Census Bureau report, titled Nonemployer Statistics: 1998, consists mostly of data on individual proprietorships (13.6 million), but also includes 1.0 million partnerships and 1.1 million corporations without paid employees. "These very small businesses are excluded from most other business statistics," said Census Bureau analyst Jerry Roth, "yet they make up an important part of many industries, such as barber and beauty shops or accounting and repair services." Four economic sectors made up 59 percent of all nonemployer sales or receipts. They were real estate and rental and leasing, $132 billion; construction, $94 billion; professional, scientific and technical services, $83 billion; and retail trade, $71 billion. Nevada led all states with an increase of 5.9 percent in nonemployer businesses. Delaware and Georgia followed, with gains of 3.9 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively, over the same period. Nonemployers do not include all self-employed individuals, since more than 1 million self-employed business owners have paid employees and, therefore, are classified as employer businesses. Many nonemployer businesses are part-time ventures and individuals may operate more than one of these. The following table shows gains in nonemployer businesses for the United States and the five states with the largest percentage increases in such businesses from 1997 to 1998: 1997 1998 Gains in businesses Nonemployer Nonemployer 1997-1998 State businesses businesses Number/Percent United States 15,439,609 15,708,727 269,118 1.7 Nevada 93,777 99,353 5,576 5.9 Delaware 37,783 39,244 1,461 3.9 Georgia 419,856 435,338 15,482 3.7 New York 1,101,776 1,137,871 36,095 3.3 Mississippi 121,668 125,634 3,966 3.3 Gains for the United States and the five states with the largest percentage increases in annual receipts from such businesses between 1997 to 1998 were: 1997 1998 Gains in receipts Nonemployer Nonemployer 1997-1998 State receipts receipts Amount/Percent ($billion) ($billion) ($billion) United States $586.3 $643.7 $57.4 9.8 Arizona 8.7 10.2 1.5 17.0 Delaware 1.5 1.7 .2 15.9 Utah 4.6 5.3 .7 14.6 Florida 37.3 42.7 5.4 14.3 Colorado 10.9 12.4 1.51 3.9 The report shows annual business activity for businesses without paid employees. It uses the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes, which in the 1997 reference year, replaced the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. It also shows number of establishments and receipts by 291 NAICS industry codes for the United States and states. Tabulations for counties and metropolitan areas are included on both the Internet and on CD-ROM. The data are subject to nonsampling error from such sources as errors of self-classification by industry on tax forms, as well as errors of response, nonreporting and coverage. Further information about methodology and data limitations may be found in the report.