The number of women-owned businesses in Louisiana has grown by 48.8% since 2007, ranking the state No. 10 nationally for growth of such firms, according to report commissioned by American Express OPEN.
The state ranks 50th for growth of revenues earned by women-owned business during the same period, at 4.9%.
The data is courtesy of the 2016 State of Women-Owned Businesses report, which analyzes the 2012 U.S. Census Bureau’s survey of business owners data—the most recent data available—as well as gross domestic product estimates as of January 2016. Unlike previous editions of the annual report, the most recent edition focuses on changes that have occurred between 2007 and 2016 instead of focusing on long trends having taken place since 1997.
According to the report, the South has seen the greatest growth in women-owned businesses since the recession as eight of the 10 fastest growing states are in the region. Florida has experienced the fastest growth in women-owned businesses, at 67%, while Louisiana rounded out the top 10.
Nationally, the number of women-owned businesses has grown five times faster than the national average, reaching a post-recession high, the report says. Between 2007 and 2016, the number of women-owned firms actually increased 42% as women started a net 1,072 new business per day, the 2016 report says.
Nearly 79%, or eight in 10, of the net new women-owned firms were started by women of color. Black women owned 1.9 million of firms as of 2016 while there were just under 1.9 million Latina-owned businesses.
Asian-American women owned an estimated 922,700 companies, and Native American/Alaska Native women-owned companies totaled about 153,400.
In 2007, Louisiana had 102,847 women-owned firms that employed 110,631 people and had combined sales of $22 billion. As of 2016, the number of women-owned firms in the state has increased to 153,000, and those firms employ 132,300 people and have sales of $23.2 billion.
The report also indicates that some 11.3 million women-owned firms across the nation are generating more than $1.6 trillion in revenue and employing nearly 9 million people.
“Women-owned firms are outpacing the national average in both job creation and revenue generation post-recession,” the report reads. “Employment growth among women-owned firms is strong with an increase of 18% since 2007, while hiring declined 1% among all businesses during the same time period.”
Read the full report, which includes summary tables breaking down the data.
