THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 30, 1996 TAG: 9601300272
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Women own one-third of the businesses in the United States and have become a driving force in the nation's economy, said a study released Monday.
Although it's not clear how many of the 31,000-plus businesses in Hampton Roads are owned by women, the new study prepared for President Clinton said that throughout the nation: ``Woman-owned businesses are growing in economic power as well as sheer numbers.''
The report was presented Monday to the president by National Women's Business Council chairwoman Lillian Vernon and Laura Tyson, head of the president's National Economic Council. Vernon founded catalog retailer Lillian Vernon Co., whose national distribution center is in Virginia Beach.
The study, which contradicts the widely held notion that the vast bulk of women in the labor force are employees, was conducted by the Clinton administration's Interagency Committee on Women's Business Enterprise and the National Women's Business Council.
``In the period 1987 to 1992, sales and receipts of women-owned companies increased by a whopping 131 percent to $643 billion,'' the study found.
Female-owned companies totaled 6.4 million in 1992, employed 13.2 million workers and had sales and receipts of $1.6 trillion. By 1994, the number of women-owned firms had grown to 7.7 million and had become ``one of the principal driving forces behind economic growth and job creation in our nation today.''
Still, women often complain that investment bankers and other sources of investment capital do not take their business efforts seriously. The report was designed in part to offset that indifference.
``Despite their advances, women-owned businesses face significant obstacles, including limited access to capital, difficulty in competing for government contracts and lack of information about where to get assistance,'' the study found.
The study found that women are expanding their enterprise and ingenuity throughout the economy, particularly the service sector.
``Notably, however, women-owned companies have experienced their highest growth rates in such `nontraditional' sectors as construction, wholesale trade, agricultural services, transportation and manufacturing,'' it said.
In Hampton Roads, about 60 percent of women 18 and over are in the labor force, compared with 58 percent in all U.S. urban areas, according to the 1990 census. However, census takers didn't track female-owned enterprises, so there is no reliable estimate available.
``It would be tough to make any sort of comment on Hampton Roads. Hampton Roads might have a little more male-dominated businesses because of its industry mix,'' said Russel Deemer, an economist with Crestar Bank. ``It has more military, more defense-oriented businesses which is more male-oriented, I would think.''
Many surveys, including the latest census data, include information about minority and female-owned businesses but they fail to offer definitive totals. Many tallies also fail to differentiate between the gender of the small business' owner, said Claudia Gooch, director of planning at The Planning Council and an expert on census data.
Clinton created the committee a year ago ``to ensure that women's economic issues are addressed at the highest policy-making levels'' in the administration. The committee includes 13 senior officials from various government agencies. MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
ILLUSTRATION: Lillian Vernon, whose firm operates a national distribution
center in Virginia Beach, presented the study to President Clinton
on Monday.
by CNB