ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 12, 1995 TAG: 9512120058
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE STRONG GROWTH is attributed to blacks who retired relatively young and began their own businesses.
The number of black-owned businesses has increased sharply, topping 620,000 in 1992, though most are small service and retail firms with receipts under $10,000 a year.
Black-owned businesses increased 46 percent, from 424,165 in 1987 to 620,192 in 1992, the Census Bureau said Monday. That was well ahead of the 26 percent increase in all U.S. businesses.
At the same time, receipts by these companies ``Simply put, our nation's diversity will prove to be our meal ticket into the 21st century.''
Agency analysts suggested that the strong growth in the number of businesses was fueled by blacks who retired at relatively younger ages and launched their own businesses.
The result was a large number of small companies. The report noted that 94 percent of black-owned firms are individual proprietorships.
Some 56 percent of black-owned firms had receipts of under $10,000, the report said, while just 3,000 had receipts of $1 million or more. Overall, black-owned firms accounted for 3.6 percent of all businesses in the United States in 1992 but just 1 percent of sales and receipts.
Although a $10,000 annual cash flow amounts to just $27 per day, Census statistician Valerie Strang said many of these small businesses are ``mom and pop firms, part-time business owners'' seeking supplemental income, rather than a main source of income for a family.
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