According to the US Census Bureau, US businesses with paid employees lost almost 104,000 firms in 2008 which brought the total number to 7.6 million. Nevertheless, the number of people employed increased to 121 million. Businesses added approximately 300,000 employees to their payrolls.
In County Business Pattern 2008, detailed annual information on the number of firms, employees, and quarterly and annual payroll for most of the 1,100 industries was covered at the national, state and country levels.
Business Establishments stats
Only 9 countries saw increase in the number of establishments in 2008 among 50 largest counties. Around 10 counties saw decline of more than 1,000 establishments.
Texas, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Wyoming were the 4 states which saw increase in establishments in 2008.
A 3.1 percent decrease from 2007 in business locations was seen in Florida which was the largest percentage. It represented more than 16,000 establishments.
Other than Florida, Michigan (2.6%), Idaho (2.5%) and Ohio(2.4%) decrease was observed with the largest percentage decreases in establishments.
Employment Stats
There was highest increase in percentage of employment from 2007 to 2008 in leading states and the District of Columbia. North Dakota with 4.1% added 12,000 employees and the New Hampshire with 3.9% adding 22,000 employees.
Philadelphia, Multnomah, were the counties with the highest increases in payroll. Philadelphia had a rise of 6.2 percent to an average of $48,993 and Multnomah had a rise of 3.6 percent to an average of $43.952.
In the healthcare and social assistance sector, there was gain more than 6,700 establishments and nearly 420,000 employees in 2008 from the past year, at the national level.
There was a loss of nearly 14,500 establishments which was a 3.8 percent decrease from the past year in the real estate and leasing sector.