
The Impact of Covid-19 on Small Business Owners - guscost
https://www.nber.org/papers/w27309
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guscost
> The number of active business owners in the United States plummeted by 3.3
> million or 22 percent over the crucial two-month window from February to
> April 2020. The drop in business owners was the largest on record, and
> losses were felt across nearly all industries and even for incorporated
> businesses. African-American businesses were hit especially hard
> experiencing a 41 percent drop. Latinx business owners fell by 32 percent,
> and Asian business owners dropped by 26 percent. Simulations indicate that
> industry compositions partly placed these groups at a higher risk of losses.
> Immigrant business owners experienced substantial losses of 36 percent.
> Female-owned businesses were also disproportionately hit by 25 percent.
> These findings of early-stage losses to small businesses have important
> policy implications and may portend longer-term ramifications for job losses
> and economic inequality.

