Among the report findings:
- Women-owned businesses are vital to Vermont’s economy.
- Women own 23,417 businesses in Vermont, which employ 36,326 people, and generate annual revenues of approximately $2.2 billion.
- Although growing at a faster rate than businesses owned by men, women-owned firms in Vermont are fewer in number, smaller in size, and lower in annual revenues.
- Between 2007-2011, the number of female-owned businesses grew 15%; during the same period male-owned businesses grew by only 6%.
- Women-owned businesses generate 9% of gross revenues and employ 12% of workers in privately-held Vermont firms.
- Women business owners are significantly underrepresented in 9 of the 10 highest grossing sectors. This limits financial opportunities for individual women and their potential contributions to Vermont’s economy.
- If the percent of women-owned businesses that are employers matched that of male-owned businesses, and those firms had the same average receipts, it would add $3.8 billion to Vermont’s economy.
- If Vermont women chose business ownership at the same rate as men, it would result in more than 10,500 new businesses.
- If just 1 in 4 of the existing 20,786 women-owned businesses without employees hired just one worker, it would result in an additional 5,200 new jobs.
- While existing business-related data sources can provide reliable top-line statistics, they are less useful in revealing nuanced information about the motivations, challenges or opportunities experienced by Vermont business owners. Focusing on the finer points of what makes a business successful is critical to Vermont’s economic future.
- Women-owned businesses have the potential to play a much bigger role in Vermont’s economic development.
- Maximizing the potential of women-owned businesses – and indeed all of VT businesses – requires new and better data.
Download Women’s Business Ownership and the Vermont Economy.