Despite the country’s recent economic downturn, African-American owned businesses have experienced rapid growth. According to the U.S. Census Bureau Survey of Business Owners, black-owned businesses jumped to 1.9 million from 2002 to 2007, an increase of 60.5 percent, triple the national rate. As one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. economy, black businesses have generated revenue of $137.5 billion, an increase of 55.1 percent over the same time period.

New York led the nation in black-owned businesses with 204,032, with Georgia and Florida following with 183,874 and 181,437 respectively. Among cities, New York City had 8.1 percent of the country’s black businesses, more than any other; Houston and Detroit both had 1.7 percent.

As the nation continues its slow recovery from the downturn, the Obama administration has intensified its efforts to create jobs, with the president reaching out to the business community, encouraging cooperation to further boost employment and the economy. The administration has also invested in the technology sector, teaming with big-name tech companies to create the Startup America Partnership, an initiative to fund entrepreneurs in high-growth areas including clean energy, medicine, and technology.

While only 36,000 total jobs were created in January, the future of African-American-owned businesses appears especially bright. According to the U.S. Census’ survey:

-Of the 1.9 million black-owned businesses in 2007, 106,824 had paid employees, an increase of 13.0 percent from 2002. These businesses employed 921,032 people, up 22.2 percent; their payrolls totaled $23.9 billion, an increase of 36.3 percent. Receipts from black-owned employer businesses totaled $98.9 billion, growing by 50.2 percent from 2002.

-In 2007, 1.8 million black-owned businesses had no paid employees, an increase of 64.5 percent from 2002. These businesses' receipts totaled $38.6 billion, up by 69.0 percent.

-The number of black-owned businesses with receipts of $1 million or more increased by 35.4 percent to 14,507 between 2002 and 2007.

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