The State of Minority- and Women- Owned ... - Cleveland.com

Market-Based Disparities in Business Formation and Business Owner Earnings
Table 5.15 shows comparable SBO data for the construction sector in the U.S. as a whole. Here,
large disparities are evident for African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, Native
Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, and women. For example, although African Americans account
for 3.75 percent of all firms in construction, they earn only 0.88 percent of all sales and receipts
in that sector. Hispanics account for 10.16 percent of firms but only 3.79 percent of receipts. For
Asians, the figures are 2.11 percent and 1.24 percent, respectively. For Native Americans, the
figures are 1.12 percent and 0.56 percent, respectively. For women, disparities are not as acute as
for minorities but are still fairly large. Women account for 8.01 percent of all construction firms
but earned only 6.46 percent of construction sales and receipts.
Among firms with paid employees, large disparities are observed for African Americans,
Hispanics, and Native Americans. Overall, disparities in this category appear somewhat less
acute than among firms as a whole. However, they remain far larger than comparable figures for
nonminority male-owned firms. This is evident in that the fraction of employer firms compared
to the fraction of all firms is far higher among nonminority males than among other race and
gender groups. In Table 5.15, for example, nonminority males represent 62.52 percent of all
firms but 66.27 percent of employer firms. For all other groups, the direction of this ratio is
reversed. That is, each group’s fraction among employer firms is smaller than its fraction among
firms as a whole, whereas for nonminority males it is larger.
Table 5.16 shows comparable results for the construction sector in Ohio. Among all firms in
construction, large disparities are observed for African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native
Americans, and women. Among firms with paid employees, large disparities are observed for
Hispanics and women. As in Table 5.15, nonminority males have a much higher ratio of
employer firms to firms as a whole than do minorities.
NERA Economic Consulting 179