New data on minority-owned businesses compiled by the Foster School released

The University of Washington Foster School’s Business and Economic Development Center released the Washington Minority Small Business Survey. Now in its fourth year of publication, this is the only index of its kind aimed at tracking the financial health of small and minority owned-businesses in Washington.

With the U.S. economy out of the recession and with growth of the GDP during the first quarter of 2010, this survey reports the impact of the financial crisis and recession on small businesses in Washington during 2009 and the first quarter of 2010. It also provides a glimpse of the prospects for small businesses and the jobs they might create during 2010.

Points in the survey:

•    Small businesses across Washington, regardless of the race/ethnicity of the owners, continue to struggle as a result of the economic downturn. Owners’ confidence about their prospects over the next year continues to decline, though at a slower rate than between 2008 and 2009.

•    Surprisingly, while small business owners do not anticipate substantial new business opportunities to emerge in the next year, 20 percent of white-owned businesses and 36 percent of minority-owned businesses anticipate hiring new employees within the next three months.

•    Credit issues continue to be a major challenge for all Washington small business owners. Nationally, nine percent of small businesses report that they cannot get the financing they need. However, in Washington, 22 percent of white-owned and 23 percent of minority-owned businesses report that they cannot meet their credit needs. ♦

For more information, visit foster.washington.edu.