County Business Patterns: 2009

Census Bureau Reports U.S. Employer Firms Show Declines in Number of Establishments and Employees

In 2009, businesses with paid employees numbered 7.4 million, a decline of 168,000 establishments from 2008, marking the second consecutive year of decline, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Further, between 2008 and 2009, employment dropped 5.3 percent, a decrease of more than 6 million employees, for a total of 114,509,626.

In 2008, the number of establishments decreased by about 104,000, although the number of employees increased by almost 300,000.

These findings are from County Business Patterns: 2009, which provides the only detailed annual information on the number of establishments, employees, and first-quarter and annual payroll for most of the 1,100 industries covered at the national, state and county levels.

The statistics are broken down according to employment-size classes (for example, number of establishments with one to four employees) and legal form of organization (for example, corporations and partnerships).