A report released Monday found that the city’s small business sector saw a major boom in the last decade, but the success didn’t help mom-and-pops grow in size.
The Center for an Urban Future said businesses with five or fewer employees grew by 82.1% between 2000 and 2013. The think tank said during the same period, few of those mom-and-pops expanded into medium and large businesses and, as a result, New York’s economy is suffering.
“There is much that city economic development officials can do to support the expansion of more of the city’s small businesses,” Jonathan Bowles, the executive director of the Center for an Urban Future said in a statement.
Bowles said a high price of doing business and fierce competition are what causes the slump in expansion. The report made several recommendations on how to curb the trend including the creation of a city unit where counselors meet with small business owners and give them guidance on how to go beyond their current market.
Maria Torres-Springer, commissioner of the city’s Department of Small Business Services, agreed that more needs to be done and encouraged entrepreneurs to check in with her agency for assistance.
