Table of contents
- What the BLS data shows
- A year-by-year view
- What stands out in the employment shares
- How to read the pattern
- Selected takeaways from the series
What the BLS data shows
Startup statistics are often used to tell a growth story, but this dataset from BLS Spotlight on Statistics is more specific. It tracks employment growth for firms with 500 or more employees versus firms with less than 500 employees, and it also tracks the share of total employment accounted for by small firms.
The value of the series is in the contrast. Across most of the years shown, smaller firms posted faster employment growth than larger firms, even when the broader labor market weakened. The share data tells a second story: small firms consistently held a majority of total employment, but that majority slowly narrowed over time.
The most consistent pattern in the series is not a single spike year. It is the repeated gap between smaller firms and larger firms over nearly every year in the dataset (BLS Spotlight on Statistics).
Quick facts
- In 1994, firms with 500 or more employees grew employment by 0.8%, while firms with less than 500 employees grew employment by 2.3% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics).
- In 2009, firms with 500 or more employees saw employment decline by 1.5%, while firms with less than 500 employees saw employment decline by 3.8% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics).
- In 2019, firms with 500 or more employees grew employment by 0.4%, while firms with less than 500 employees grew employment by 1.1% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics).
- Small firms accounted for 63.1% of total employment in 1994, compared with 58.5% in 2019 (BLS Spotlight on Statistics).
- The series runs from 1994 through 2019 and includes annual growth figures for both large and small firms, plus annual small-firm employment shares (BLS Spotlight on Statistics).
A year-by-year view
The clearest way to understand the dataset is to line up the annual growth rates side by side. The pattern is remarkably stable: small firms usually outgrew large firms. There are a few years when the gap was small, one year when both groups were flat, and several downturn years when both groups contracted.
| Year | 500 or more employees | Less than 500 employees | What stands out |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 0.8% | 2.3% | Small firms grew nearly three times as fast (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 1995 | 1.0% | 2.5% | Small firms again led by a wide margin (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 1996 | 0.6% | 1.4% | Both groups grew, with smaller firms ahead (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 1997 | 1.0% | 1.9% | Small firms kept the lead (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 1998 | 1.3% | 1.5% | The gap narrowed sharply (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 1999 | 1.0% | 1.4% | A modest lead for smaller firms (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2000 | 1.0% | 1.8% | Smaller firms still outpaced larger firms (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2001 | 0.4% | 0.4% | The two groups matched exactly (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2002 | -1.0% | -1.5% | Both groups declined, with smaller firms falling more (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2003 | -0.3% | -0.4% | Another down year for both groups (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2004 | 0.2% | 0.6% | Small-firm growth returned with a clearer edge (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2005 | 0.7% | 1.1% | Smaller firms continued to grow faster (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2006 | 0.8% | 1.6% | A strong spread in favor of smaller firms (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2007 | 0.5% | 0.9% | Growth slowed, but the pattern held (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2008 | 0.1% | 0.0% | Near-flat growth for both groups (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2009 | -1.5% | -3.8% | The steepest decline in the series for smaller firms (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2010 | -0.8% | -1.8% | Both groups were still shrinking (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2011 | 0.6% | 1.2% | Recovery, with smaller firms again ahead (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2012 | 0.8% | 1.7% | One of the wider positive gaps (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2013 | 0.6% | 1.3% | The lead persisted (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2014 | 0.6% | 1.4% | A steady expansion year for smaller firms (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2015 | 0.8% | 1.6% | Smaller firms continued to outgrow larger firms (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2016 | 0.7% | 1.4% | Another year of stronger small-firm growth (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2017 | 0.5% | 1.2% | The gap remained visible (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2018 | 0.6% | 1.1% | A narrower but still clear spread (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2019 | 0.4% | 1.1% | Small firms finished the series ahead again (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
The big pattern in growth rates
If you scan the table row by row, two things jump out. First, the smaller-firm column is higher in almost every growth year. Second, the size of the gap changes, but the direction rarely does.
That matters because the data does not just show that small firms can grow quickly in a single lucky year. It shows a repeated structural pattern across a long stretch of time. From 1994 through 2019, the small-firm series often grew faster in up years and usually fell less far behind only in rare cases like 2001 and 2008 (BLS Spotlight on Statistics).
What stands out in the employment shares
The second half of the dataset is about employment share rather than annual growth. Here the picture is different but related. Small firms accounted for more than 58% of total employment in every year listed, and they started the period above 63%. By the end of the series, that share had drifted lower.
Employment share at a glance
| Year | Small firms share of total employment |
|---|---|
| 1994 | 63.1% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 1995 | 62.9% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 1996 | 62.6% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 1997 | 62.3% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 1998 | 61.7% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 1999 | 61.2% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2000 | 60.8% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2001 | 60.5% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2002 | 60.7% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2003 | 61.0% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2004 | 61.2% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2005 | 61.1% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2006 | 61.0% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2007 | 60.8% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2008 | 60.5% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2009 | 60.2% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2010 | 60.2% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2011 | 60.2% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2012 | 60.1% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2013 | 59.8% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2014 | 59.6% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2015 | 59.5% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2016 | 59.2% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2017 | 59.1% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2018 | 58.7% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
| 2019 | 58.5% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics) |
The most important reading here is not that small firms lost relevance. They did not. Even in 2019, they still accounted for more than half of total employment, at 58.5% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics). What changed is the margin. The share moved from 63.1% in 1994 to 58.5% in 2019, which is a gradual decline rather than a dramatic break (BLS Spotlight on Statistics).
Why the share data matters
Annual growth rates can be noisy. A single year can be shaped by downturns, rebounds, or temporary shocks. Share data is slower moving, so it gives a cleaner view of the long-run balance between firm sizes. In this series, the balance stayed in favor of smaller firms the whole time, but the advantage softened. That combination suggests a labor market where small firms remained central while large firms still captured a meaningful and persistent role in overall employment.
How to read the pattern
The dataset is useful because it does not force one simple explanation. Instead, it presents a consistent set of observations that can be read in three layers.
1. Small firms usually grew faster
Across the annual growth series, small firms generally posted higher employment growth than large firms. That was true in early expansion years like 1994, 1995, and 1997, and it was also true in the recovery years after the downturns (BLS Spotlight on Statistics).
2. Large firms were not irrelevant
The large-firm series was often positive too. For example, the 1990s include many years where large firms still posted growth, just at a lower rate than smaller firms. In 2001, both groups were at 0.4%, and in 2008 both groups were essentially flat, at 0.1% and 0.0% respectively (BLS Spotlight on Statistics). So the story is not “small good, large bad.” It is more precise to say that smaller firms were the faster-growing group in most years.
3. Small firms held most employment, but their share drifted down
From 1994 to 2019, the small-firm employment share moved from the low 60s to the high 50s. That is a meaningful change, but not a collapse. The majority position remained intact throughout the series (BLS Spotlight on Statistics).
Selected takeaways from the series
- The strongest repeated pattern is that firms with less than 500 employees usually grew employment faster than firms with 500 or more employees (BLS Spotlight on Statistics).
- The gap was widest in some years, but the direction was usually the same.
- The only exact tie in the annual growth figures listed here is 2001, when both groups grew employment by 0.4% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics).
- The deepest downturn in the small-firm growth series is 2009, when small firms saw employment decline by 3.8% (BLS Spotlight on Statistics).
- Small firms always accounted for a majority of total employment in the years shown, beginning at 63.1% in 1994 and ending at 58.5% in 2019 (BLS Spotlight on Statistics).
- The long-run message is less about one exceptional year and more about persistence across decades (BLS Spotlight on Statistics).
For readers trying to understand startup statistics in a practical way, this dataset points to a simple but important idea: smaller firms are often the faster-moving part of the employment system. They grow faster in many years, they remain a majority of employment, and they keep that role even as their share slowly changes over time (BLS Spotlight on Statistics).