Small Business and Job Creation Analyses and Implications

The Small Business Administration (SBA) administers several programs to support small businesses, including loan guaranty programs; disaster loan programs; management and technical assistance training programs; and federal contracting programs. Congressional interest in these programs has increased in recent years, primarily because they are viewed as a means to stimulate economic activity, create jobs, and assist in the national economic recovery. This book examines the economic research on net job creation to identify the types of businesses that appear to create the most jobs; and the arguments for providing federal assistance to small businesses, noting that policy-makers often view job creation as a justification for such assistance whereas economists argue that over the long term federal assistance to small businesses is likely to reallocate jobs within the economy, not increase them.