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Was Fred Thomas Right About Small Businesses in Montana?

“Small businesses represent 97 percent of all employers in Montana, they’re the backbone of our economy. That’s why it’s essential that we support our small businesses and help them grow.” This was stated by Fred Thomas during the last 2014 election to highlight the part of his plan to address Montana’s economic recovery, which has been slow to replace jobs lost during the Great Recession.

As his solution to the said issue, he proposed right then that he plans to offer tax relief to small businesses that hire new employees. He weighed the statistics to underscore how integral businesses are to the economy in Montana. The numbers given by Thomas were from the available figures from the US Small Business Administration that was released in February 2013, covered the year between 2010 and 2011.

The documents are compiled based from the data of various government sources, which includes the US census Bureau and US Department of Labor. The SBA report established that the state of Montana was home to a great number of 495,227 small businesses in 2010, together with a god number of 2,943 large businesses.

With this report, the lowest ebb of the recession had been reflected, also showing a decline in the number of small and large businesses. In between the years of 2009 and 2010, the number of small businesses fell by regrettable number of 1,996 and the number of large businesses decreased by 20.

Small businesses are defined as one business that has fewer 500 employees, according to the Small Business Administration. Thus, businesses that employ more than 500 people, even if they have fewer than 50o workers in Montana, are seen as large businesses. SBA reported that small businesses represent the 97.1% of Montana’s employers in 2010. However, small businesses employ just about 44.8% of the state’s private workforce.

Thomas generalized that small businesses form “the backbone of Montana’s economy.” CEO of a Scottsdale-based economic and real-estate consulting firm, Elise Praire, agrees with Thomas’ conclusions on how small businesses are important to the economic stability of the state. Pollack also noted that between 2008 and 2010, businesses with one to four employees had a net gain in jobs of 20,727. Whereas businesses with five or more employees had net job losses totaling in thousands. “Small businesses have since the 1960’s created more jobs relative to their size than larger businesses in Montana,” Prairesaid.

According to him, the locals should not underestimate the importance of large businesses in Montana. If ever companies such as Intel open facilities in Montana, thousands of new residents may come to the Valley, thus increasing demand for the products and services supplied by small, local businesses.

The Small Business Administration figures established that in 2010, nationwide small businesses have represented 99.7 percent of all employers and employed 49.1 percent of workers in the private sector. Montana small businesses embody a smaller percentage of all employers compared with the national average, this is a fact despite small businesses’ high representation as employers.


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