EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EDT, JULY 26, 2001 (THURSDAY)

                                
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Carol Comisarow/Jerry Roth
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             Nonemployer Businesses Near 16 Million; 
          Nevada Grew the Fastest, Census Bureau Reports

  About 15.7 million of the nation's businesses had no paid employees in
1998, according to a report released today by the Commerce Department's
Census Bureau. Nationwide, the number of nonemployer businesses grew by
1.7 percent or 269,118 businesses between 1997 and 1998.

  The Census Bureau report, titled Nonemployer Statistics: 1998, consists  
mostly of data on individual proprietorships (13.6 million), but also
includes 1.0 million partnerships and 1.1 million corporations without
paid employees.

  "These very small businesses are excluded from most other business
statistics," said Census Bureau analyst Jerry Roth, "yet they make up an
important part of many industries, such as barber and beauty shops or
accounting and repair services."

  Four economic sectors made up 59 percent of all nonemployer sales or
receipts. They were real estate and rental and leasing, $132 billion;
construction, $94 billion; professional, scientific and technical
services, $83 billion; and retail trade, $71 billion.

  Nevada led all states with an increase of 5.9 percent in nonemployer
businesses. Delaware and Georgia followed, with gains of 3.9 percent and
3.7 percent, respectively, over the same period.

  Nonemployers do not include all self-employed individuals, since more
than 1 million self-employed business owners have paid employees and,
therefore, are classified as employer businesses. Many nonemployer
businesses are part-time ventures and individuals may operate more than
one of these.

  The following table shows gains in nonemployer businesses for the United
States and the five states with the largest percentage increases in such
businesses from 1997 to 1998:

                      1997              1998          Gains in businesses
                  Nonemployer       Nonemployer            1997-1998
State              businesses        businesses         Number/Percent

United States      15,439,609        15,708,727         269,118   1.7
Nevada                 93,777            99,353           5,576   5.9
Delaware               37,783            39,244           1,461   3.9
Georgia               419,856           435,338          15,482   3.7
New York            1,101,776         1,137,871          36,095   3.3
Mississippi           121,668           125,634           3,966   3.3

  Gains for the United States and the five states with the largest
percentage increases in annual receipts from such businesses between 1997
to 1998 were:

                      1997              1998          Gains in receipts
                  Nonemployer       Nonemployer            1997-1998
State               receipts          receipts           Amount/Percent
                   ($billion)        ($billion)            ($billion)

United States        $586.3            $643.7            $57.4    9.8
Arizona                 8.7              10.2              1.5   17.0
Delaware                1.5               1.7               .2   15.9
Utah                    4.6               5.3               .7   14.6
Florida                37.3              42.7              5.4   14.3
Colorado               10.9              12.4             1.51    3.9

  The report shows annual business activity for businesses without paid
employees. It uses the North American Industry Classification System
(NAICS) codes, which in the 1997 reference year, replaced the Standard
Industrial Classification (SIC) system.

  It also shows number of establishments and receipts by 291 NAICS
industry codes for the United States and states. Tabulations for counties
and metropolitan areas are included on both the Internet and on CD-ROM.

  The data are subject to nonsampling error from such sources as errors of
self-classification by industry on tax forms, as well as errors of
response, nonreporting and coverage. Further information about methodology
and data limitations may be found in the report.