BUSINESS STARTUPS
18
CENSUS BUREAU SERVICE PROVIDES
TIMELY UPDATES ON BUSINESS STARTUPS
TCBusiness.com
Florida has seen unprecedented growth
during the past two years in the number
of new business starts. In 2020, more than
495,000 new applications were filed to
start a new business — up 26.8% from the
previous year. While these were staggering
numbers, the pace continued at the
same robust rate in 2021. Last year, there
were more than 632,000 new business
applications another 27% increase yearover
year.
These same trends were happening
across the entire nation, with new business
creation booming in most states.
Peer states, like New York, California and
Texas, were also experiencing tremendous
growth in new businesses, but none had
growth as robust as Florida. As one of our
partners, the Florida Chamber of Commerce,
shared last year, Florida has been
the No. 1 state for new business starts for
the past two years.
Business applications are easier to
track and compare due to the launch of a
standard data product by the U.S. Census
Bureau. The Business Formation Statistics
data series provides timely information on
new business applications and formations
in the United States. There are many perks
of using the BFS as a real-time indicator
for tracking the business environment, including
that it is available at the national,
regional, and state levels. However, the
strongest asset of the data series is that it
is available weekly, meaning you can regularly
track where your state is compared to
the previous year.
Moreover, the data series tracks different
types of applications. The overall application
number is benchmarked against
high-propensity applications. This group
includes those that are from some key
industry sectors, corporations, those with
planned wages, and those that are hiring.
All of the other sub-types of business
applications are included in the overall
business applications
number. Examining
it this way confirms
that the majority of
business growth is in
those that are going into business
for themselves as a non-employer or
a sole proprietorship. The overall business
number for our state reflects that trend as
well — 2.4 million of 2.8 million businesses
are non-employers.
BFS are also available by county, but not
in real time. The 2021 county-level data
was just released June 23. The county-level
numbers are also used to populate county
and regional policymakers dashboards.
Last year, aspiring entrepreneurs were
about 19% of the Florida SBDC Network’s
clients, and startups those in business
less than three years were about 30% of
its clients. To some, that market segment
distribution of clients may be surprising.
After all, established businesses have been
dealing with various external pressures
like the pandemic, rising operating costs,
supply chain and labor shortages, and
now inflation. However, the flip side of the
Great Resignation has been that advancing
technology and cultural shifts in worklife
balance have fostered a fertile ground
for aspiring entrepreneurs. Ultimately, this
means that the demand for Florida SBDC
Network services is extremely high from
all market segments of businesses and will
likely continue to be throughout the year.
Pulling together this data for the network,
the Florida
small business
community and
our partners
through dashboards
can provide a variety of insightful
relationships, including where growth is
happening most in earnest, how industries
are growing throughout the state and how
marketing teams can target these new entities
most effectively. Florida might rank
third in population, but it is proving to be
No. 1 for businesses.
THE 2021 COUNTY-LEVEL DATA
WAS JUST RELEASED JUNE 23.
THE COUNTY-LEVEL NUMBERS
ARE ALSO USED TO POPULATE
COUNTY AND REGIONAL
POLICYMAKERS DASHBOARDS.
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU
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