Fortune 500 companies employ 17.5% of the total U.S. UU. Of approximately 32.6 million businesses in the U.S. In the U.S., the economy of the United States is a small business economy.
See the Promotion Office's “Frequently Asked Questions” publication. See “An Analysis of Small Business Patents by Industry and Company Size” here. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Table A), the level of entrepreneurship in the U.S. In fact, it has declined, or at least stagnated, in recent years.
Consider the data on the number of self-employed workers. On average, each new U.S. company included in the Fortune 500 list employs 60,629 workers, 10.7 percent more than the average number of workers in companies not on the U.S. Fortune 500 list.
Going deeper into the numbers, 18.4 percent of the companies on the Fortune 500 list were founded by immigrants and another 24.8 percent were founded by children of immigrants, figures that are consistent with the broader research literature. Given their number and size, these new American companies have an enormous impact on each state's economy. Among the states, New York, California, Illinois, Texas and Virginia have the most, each home to at least 13 Fortune 500 firms founded by immigrants or children of immigrants. In importing companies, 76.7% had fewer than 20 employees, 86.4% had fewer than 50 employees, 91.3% fewer than 100 employees and 97.3% fewer than 500 employees.
Among the states with 10 or more companies on the New American Fortune 500 list, New York, the original gateway for immigrants from the United States, leads the pack with 35 firms. Some of the largest and most renowned American companies were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants, including well-known names such as Apple and Costco, as well as newcomers to the Fortune 500 list, such as Broadcom and Intuit. In companies that exported to Canada, 61.7% had fewer than 20 employees, 76.1% had fewer than 50 employees, 84.1% had fewer than 100 employees, and 94.5% had fewer than 500 employees. In exporting manufacturing companies, 56.5% had fewer than 20 employees, 74.1% had fewer than 50 employees, 84.3% had fewer than 100 employees, and 96.1% had fewer than 500 employees.
Sixty-eight metropolitan areas and five non-metropolitan areas spread over 33 states are home to Fortune 500 firms founded by an immigrant or the child of an immigrant. Even Levi's was created by two immigrants, Levi Strauss from Germany and Jacob Davis from Latvia, who invented that already iconic basic of blue jeans in American clothing. For example, in New York, Fortune 500 companies generated revenues that represented 56.3 percent of the state's total GDP and employed nearly 2 million people worldwide. In Canadian importing companies, 43.6% had fewer than 20 employees, 55.5% had fewer than 50 employees, 64.9% had fewer than 100 employees, and 83.0% had fewer than 500 employees.
Economists disagree on many things, but there are two areas: the importance of entrepreneurship for economic growth and job creation, and the enormous role that immigrants play in founding American companies, have reached a broad consensus.
