Small Businesses Create the Most Jobs, Right?

Wrong, according to a recent Fisher College Business School (Ohio State University) and GE Capital study. The job drivers are the middle market businesses, those sandwiched between small and big businesses. Not only do these businesses create jobs, but they manage to ride out economic hard times. Here are some of their characteristics:

• 82% of the middle market firms rode out the recession compared to little more than one half of small businesses,


• Middle market firms added 2.2 million jobs while the big boys shed 3.7 million jobs between 2007 and 2010, and


• Middle market firms can be found throughout the country and in many different industry sectors.

But the picture isn’t entirely rosy. Over 55% of the middle market firms surveyed said they had trouble accessing capital and 71% said that it was hard to comply with regulations.