Jun 9, 2020 - Economy

More businesses were lost in the last 3 months than all of the Great Recession

Data: National Bureau of Economic Research; Table: Axios Visuals
Data: National Bureau of Economic Research; Table: Axios Visuals

The U.S. saw its largest ever decline in the number of business owners between February and April, as at least 3.3 million shut their doors, a new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research using the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey found.

What it means: The record wave of closures was widespread but disproportionately hit minority- and immigrant-owned firms, and "may portend longer-term ramifications for job losses and economic inequality," the study found.

  • African American businesses were the hardest hit.

The big picture: "No other one-, two- or even 12-month window of time has ever shown such a large change in business activity," author Robert W. Fairlie writes.

  • "For comparison, from the start to end of the Great Recession the number of business owners decreased by 730,000 representing only a 5 percent reduction."
  • The reduction from February to April this year is more than four times that much.

What's next: "More permanent mass closures of small businesses in the United States are likely to have a dramatic effect on employee job losses, further income inequality, and contribute to a prolonged recession."

Go deeper: A reckoning for small business

Go deeper