Businesses with no paid employees grew 2.3 percent between 1999 and 2000 from 16.2 million to 16.5 million, according to the Commerce Department's Census Bureau.

     Nevada led all states in the growth of its nonemployer businesses, with an increase of 6.9 percent. Maryland was second, at 5.0 percent; followed by Delaware, at 4.9 percent.

     "These very small businesses make up 70 percent of all businesses," said Census Bureau analyst Jerry Roth. "They may be run by one or more individuals, can range from home-based businesses to mom-and-pop stores to construction contractors and often are part-time ventures with individual owners operating more than one of them."

     Examples of these types of businesses are barber and beauty shops, child-care providers, real estate agents, carpenters, plumbers, writers and tax preparers.

     The report, Nonemployer Statistics: 2000 [PDF 1M], provides a portion of the detailed Internet tables, which show the number of establishments and their receipts for the United States, states, counties and metropolitan areas for nearly 300 different industries.

     Four economic sectors accounted for almost 60 percent of nonemployer receipts real estate and rental and leasing ($133 billion); construction ($108 billion); professional, scientific and technical services ($90 billion); and retail trade ($74 billion).

     The following table shows increases between 1999 and 2000 in the number and percentage of nonemployer businesses for the United States and the five leading states:

	Total Nonemployer Businesses		Increases 1999 - 2000
State	1999	2000	Number	Percent
United States	16,152,604	16,529,955	377,351	2.3
Nevada	106,416	113,744	7,328	6.9
Maryland	307,535	322,819	15,284	5.0
Delaware	39,181	41,082	1,901	4.9
Florida	1,031,053	1,074,020	42,967	4.2
Michigan	506,038	526,958	20,920	4.1

     The next table shows gains in annual receipts between 1999 and 2000 by nonemployer businesses in the United States and the five states with the largest percentage increases:

	Nonemployer Receipts		Gains in Receipts 1999 - 2000
State	1999 ($bil.)	2000 ($bil.)	Amount ($bil.)	Percent
United States	$667.2	$709.4	$42.2	6.3
Nevada	5.2	5.9	0.7	13.9
Maryland	11.5	12.8	1.4	11.9
Vermont	1.6	1.8	0.2	10.9
Rhode Island	2.3	2.5	0.2	10.2
Pennsylvania	24.7	27.0	2.4	9.7

     The report also has data on 14.4 million individual proprietorships, more than 1 million corporations and almost 1 million partnerships. Nonemployer firms do not cover all self-employed business owners, since many of these have paid employees.

      The data are subject to nonsampling error such as errors of self-classification by industry on tax forms, as well as errors of response, nonreporting and coverage. Further information about methodology and data limitations are available in the report.