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Public Information Office                                        CB02-11
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Jerry Roth/Carol Comisarow
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              Nonemployer Businesses Exceed 16 Million;
            Nevada Grew the Fastest, Census Bureau Reports

  More than 16.1 million businesses had no paid employees in 1999,
according to a report released today by the Commerce Department's Census
Bureau. Nationwide, the number of nonemployer businesses grew by 2.8
percent, or 443,877, between 1998 and 1999.

  Nevada led all states in growth of nonemployer businesses, with an
increase of 7.1 percent. Arizona followed, at 4.9 percent, and three
states Florida, Louisiana and Colorado saw the number of their nonemployer
businesses grow by 4.4 percent over the same period.

  The Census Bureau report, Nonemployer Statistics: 1999, includes data 
on 14.1 million individual proprietorships, 960,000 partnerships and more than
1 million corporations.

  Four economic sectors accounted for almost 60 percent of nonemployer
sales or receipts real estate and rental and leasing ($125 billion);
construction ($103 billion); professional, scientific and technical
services ($85 billion); and retail trade ($73 billion).

  Nonemployer firms do not include all self-employed individuals, since
many self-employed business owners have paid employees. Many nonemployer
businesses are part-time ventures and individual owners may operate more
than one of these.

  The following table shows gains in nonemployer businesses for the United
States and for the five states with the largest percentage increases in
the number of these businesses between 1998 and 1999:

                    1998           1999        Gains in Businesses      
                  Nonemployer    Nonemployer        1998-1999       
State             Businesses     Businesses      Number   Percent
                                                               
United States     15,708,727     16,152,604     443,877   2.8
Nevada                99,353        106,416       7,063   7.1
Arizona              248,462        260,743      12,281   4.9
Florida              987,458      1,031,053      43,595   4.4
Louisiana            219,073        228,628       9,555   4.4
Colorado             311,855        325,432      13,577   4.4
                                                               
                                                               
 The following table shows gains in annual receipts by nonemployer
businesses for the United States and the five states with the largest
percentage increases between 1998 and 1999:
                                                               
                                                               
                 1998           1999       Gains in Receipts
              Nonemployer    Nonemployer        1998-1999
                Receipts      Receipts     Amount
State            ($bil.)       ($bil.)     ($bil.)   Percent
                                
United States     $643.7       $667.2      $23.5     3.6
Alaska               1.6          1.8        0.2    13.8
Arizona             10.1         10.9        0.8     7.8
Utah                 5.3          5.7        0.4     7.1
Colorado            12.5         13.3        0.8     7.0
Idaho                2.8          3.0        0.2     6.9

  The report shows number of establishments and receipts by 298 North
American Industry Classification System codes for the United States and
states. Tabulations for counties and metropolitan areas are included on
the Internet and CD-ROM versions of the report.

  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.