Regional Insights: Region last among 40 in women-owned businesses
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Last month's column described the dismal state of African-American business ownership in the Pittsburgh region ("Regional Insights: Why Supporting Black-Owned Businesses is a Good Idea," May 1) based on the results of the 2007 U.S. Economic Census. Are Pittsburgh's female entrepreneurs doing any better?
The short answer is "no."
The Pittsburgh region ranks dead last among the top 40 regions in the country in the number of women-owned businesses relative to the size of its population. Also, the number of women-owned businesses here has grown more slowly than in most other regions.
In 2007, there were 48,354 businesses in southwestern Pennsylvania that were owned by women (i.e., women had a 51 percent or higher ownership stake). Although that's a lot, it represents only 68 women-owned businesses for every 1,000 women ages 20 to 64 living in the region, versus an average of 89 in other regions. Compared with places such as Charlotte, N.C.; Columbus, Ohio; and Detroit, which rank about average on this measure, we have 15,000 fewer women-owned businesses than we should.
In every region, the majority of businesses are owned by men, but an even larger share are owned by men here than elsewhere. In southwestern Pennsylvania, only about one-fourth (26.7 percent) of all businesses were owned by women in 2007, the second smallest percentage among major regions (only Nashville, Tenn., had a smaller proportion of businesses owned by women). The highest percentage was in Washington, D.C., where women own a third (33.1 percent) of the businesses.
The Pittsburgh region has seen significant growth in women-owned businesses over the past decade; there were 8,179 more women-owned businesses here in 2007 than in 1997, a 20 percent increase. However, that was the third-smallest growth among the top 40 regions; the number of women-owned businesses grew three times as fast in other regions. Of course, overall business growth in Pittsburgh was slow compared with other regions during that period, but southwestern Pennsylvania also saw below-average growth in the percentage of businesses that were women-owned, compared to other regions.
First Published June 5, 2011 12:00 am
