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Brooklyn is leading New York’s small business boom, and it’s not just because remote workers are spending cash closer to home rather than commuting with it into Manhattan.
The city can boasts more small businesses than ever before in large part because some entrepreneurs, particularly those in the outer boroughs, are registering new solo-owned business ventures out of their home addresses.
That’s according to a new report from the New York City Economic Development Corp. The nonprofit estimates the city has roughly 183,000 small businesses, some 46,000 of which are owned and operated by a single individual. The latter figure is up nearly 10% from 2019, when New York tallied about 42,000 sole proprietorships.
That’s according to a new report from the New York City Economic Development Corp. The nonprofit estimates the city has roughly 183,000 small businesses, some 46,000 of which are owned and operated by a single individual. The latter figure is up nearly 10% from 2019, when New York tallied about 42,000 sole proprietorships.
Many of the roughly 4,000 new individual-owned businesses are registered to residential addresses in Brooklyn neighborhoods. The NYCEDC said Bedford-Stuyvesant, Williamsburg, Bushwick, Crown Heights, Clinton Hill and Fort Greene have accounted for a net increase of 1,000 new small businesses since 2019, more than the rest of the city combined.
A representative from the NYCEDC said many of the new sole proprietorships appear to be professional service and consulting gigs.
The city has clocked so many new solo-owned endeavors in recent years that the total count of small businesses — those with fewer than 50 employees — is up by about 1,000 compared to prepandemic levels despite businesses that employ 2 to 49 workers shrinking since 2019.
The NYCEDC attributed the outer borough entrepreneurial business boom largely to pandemic-induced changes to the way Americans work showing some entrepreneurs they could start a business without a Manhattan office.
The Brooklyn boost is not just entrepreneurs, though. “Many others are clearly consumer-facing storefronts,” the report said. “Hotels and Restaurants, Arts and Entertainment, and Personal Services establishments have all seen growth in North Brooklyn during the pandemic.”
That is the narrative more frequently touted about remote and hybrid worker consumer spending. The argument is that remote workers spend more money near their homes than they would if they were commuting to an office five days a week. That spending, in turn, helps boost local business.
Overall, the number of small businesses in New York is up by about 1,000 from 2019. The report is based on anlaysis of tax records filed with the New York State Department of Labor.
“Hit particularly hard by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses have since proven to be incredibly resilient,” the report said. “This rapid recovery speaks to the city’s entrepreneurial spirit, as new business formation has continued to outpace business closures.”
While the topline reading of more small businesses offers a positive outlook for the city, the increase in total establishments has not led to a total recovery of small business employment.
“Despite growth in the number of businesses, small business employment remains below pre-pandemic levels, down 28,000 jobs compared to 2019,” the report said, attributing that trend to the rise of sole proprietorships inherently not causing significant spikes in employment.
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Jack Grieve , 2024-06-06 12:03:03
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