Job Creation and Firm Size in the U.S. and West Germany

Abstract

ZOLTAN J. ACS and DAVID B. AUDRETSCH are research fellows at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin fur Sozialforschung, Berlin. This paper uses a new data base recently made available by the United States Small Business Administration to examine how the pattern of job generation varies across different firm sizes. This enables the authors to examine the relationship between job generation and firm size in the U.S. They find that small firms have been the major source of new jobs in manufacturing, services and the finance sector as well as for the aggregate economy. This has resulted in a significant shift in the share of employment accounted for by small firms between 1976 and 1982. However, there does not appear to be any evidence that small firms are becoming more pervasive in highly innovative industries. No similar trend in job generation is discernible in

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Acs, Zoltan J. and David B. Audretsch (1987a), "Innovation, Market Structure, and Firm Size," Review of Economics and Statistics, November 1987, 69, 567-574.

Acs, Zoltan J. and David B. Audretsch (1987b), "An Empirical Examination of Small Firm Growth," Economics Letters, 1987, 25, 363-366.

Acs, Zoltan J. and David B. Audretsch

"Innovation in Large and Small Firms: An Empirical Analysis,"

American Economic Review, September 1988, 78-78.

Acs, Zoltan J. and David B. Audretsch , "Small-Firm Entry in U.S. Manufacturing, Economica, forthcoming.

Armington, Catherine and Marjorie Odle , "Small Business-How Many Jobs," The Brookings Review, Winter 1982, 1, 14-17.

Birch, David L. , "Who Creates Jobs?" The Public Interest, Fall 1981, 65, 3-14.

Boden, Richard and Bruce D. Phillips , "Uses and Limitations of USEEM/USELM Data," Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration, Washington, D.C., November 1985.

Carlsson, Bo , "Manufacturing Technology and U.S. Trade Performance," presented at the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics (EARIE) Conference, Madrid, September 1987.

Edwards, Keith L. and Theodore J. Gordon , "Characterisation of Innovations Introduced on the U.S. Market in 1982," prepared for the U.S. Small Business Administration under Contract No. SB-6050-OA-82, March 1984.

10.

FitzRoy, Felix R. , "Firm Size, Efficiency and Employment: A Review Article. Small Business Economics, forthcoming.

11.

Hull, Christopher, J. , "Job Generation in the Federal Republic of Germany-A Review," Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin, (IIM/LMP 86-12), 1986.

12.

hillips, Bruce D. and Bruce A. Kirchhoff , "Formation, Growth and Survival: Small Firm Dynamics in the U.S. Economy," Small Business Economics, forthcoming.

13.

Piore, Michael J. and Charles F. Sabel , The Second Industrial Divide: Possibilities for Prosperity, New York: Basic Books, 1984.

14.

Shepherd, William G. , "The Causes of Increased Competition in the Economy, 1939- 1980," Review of Economics and Statistics, November 1982, 64, 613-626.

15.

Starr , Ed., "Small Business in Manufacturing," prepared for the U.S. Small Business Administration, July 1987.

16.

Statistisches Bundesamt, Statistisches Jahrbuch Fur die Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Wiesbaden: W. Kohlhammer (various years).

17.

Storey, D.J. , Entrepreneurship and the New Firm, London: Croom Helm, 1982.

18.

Storey, D.J. and S. Johnson , Job Generation and Labour Market Change, London: MacMillan, 1987.

19.

U.S. Small Business Administration , The Small Business Data Base: A Users Guide, Washington, D.C., July 1986.

20.

U.S. Small Business Administration , Office of Advocacy, "Linked 1976-1984 USEEM User's Guide," Washington D.C., July 1987.