Small businesses are a large part of the American tradition, and still play a vital role in the U.S. economy. Consider: In 2011 there were 28.2 million small businesses in the U.S., accounting for 99.7% of America's employers; comparatively, there are only 17,700 firms with 500 employees or more, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
In fact, small business employers—defined by the SBA's Office of Advocacy as those independent businesses with fewer than 500 employees—are the ones driving the nation's economic recovery. Small firms accounted for 63% of the net new private-sector jobs created between 1993 and mid-2013—or 14.3 million of the 22.9 million net new jobs, the SBA says. Since the end of the Great Recession (mid-2009 to mid-2013), small firms accounted for 60% of the net new jobs.
With that sort of clout—and because many independent agencies are small businesses themselves—the insuranceindustry can't afford to ignore this powerful market niche.
Recommended For You
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.