California’s minority-owned businesses are a powerful asset to the state’s economy, generating $28.7 billion in tax revenue and supporting 2.6 million jobs annually, according to a new report issued earlier this month.
The report also found that these minority-owned businesses contribute $192.8 billion in economic output, which is more than the annual gross domestic product (GDP) of 18 U.S. states.
California is home to millions of businesses, with minority-owned small businesses accounting for 45% of all small businesses in the state.
Recognizing the importance of monitoring the status of California’s minority-owned small businesses for evaluating the successes and/or failures of California state and local policies and for evaluating the overall health of California’s population and economy, the California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) commissioned a research report prepared by Beacon Economics, LLC.
Preparation of the “State of Diverse Small Businesses in California” report was aided by California’s largest minority chambers of commerce—the California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce, the California African-American Chamber of Commerce and the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce—and is the state’s first such report on the economic, fiscal, and social impact of diverse firms across the state.
The report examined businesses from four racial/ethnic groups: Asians, Hispanics, Black/African Americans, and Native Americans. It referred to Census Bureau data sources from 2019, the most recent data year for which all individual data points used were available as of the publication of the report this month.
The report findings will help CalOSBA and private organizations better target supportive government policies and investments for minority firms and entrepreneurs, as well as raise the visibility of their contributions toward job creation, tax revenues, and healthy communities to policymakers in the public and private sectors, the CalOSBA said in a statement.
“This level of detailed data is critical to our effort to effectively promote economic development policy that serves the needs of these businesses on the statewide and local levels. Stakeholders around the state can now plainly see the priority of serving these small business-owners,” said Pat Fong Kushida, president and CEO of the California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce.
To read the report’s Executive Summary, click here.
For the full report, click here.
