Fact of the Week: Microbusinesses Performed $5.2 billion of R&D in the US in 2019
Sources: Audrey Kindlon, “Microbusinesses Performed $5.2 billion of R&D in the United States in 2019,” National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), September 20, 2022; Audrey Kindlon, “Microbusinesses Performed $4.3 billion of R&D in the United States in 2018,” NCSES, November 29, 2021; NCSES, Business Enterprise Research and Development: 2019 (Table 10; accessed October 6, 2022).
Commentary: U.S. microbusinesses—defined as having fewer than 10 employees—performed $5.2 billion of R&D domestically in 2019, according to the American Business Survey. This was a 21 percent increase from $4.3 billion in 2018.
Domestic R&D (i.e., R&D performed in the United States) performed by U.S. microbusinesses is more concentrated in the professional, scientific, and technical services industry (NAICS 54) and non-manufacturing industries in general than is the case for larger businesses. Manufacturing industries accounted for just 12 percent of the domestic R&D performed by U.S. microbusinesses, compared to 58 percent for all firms with 10 or more employees. This is unsurprising when considering manufacturing firms make up a much smaller share of microbusinesses. Excepting manufacturing industries, microbusinesses’ R&D is still more concentrated in the professional, scientific, and technical services industry. This industry accounted for 82 percent of non-manufacturing domestic R&D performed by U.S. microbusinesses, compared to 26 percent for larger firms. In contrast, the information industry accounted for 53 percent of non-manufacturing domestic R&D performed by businesses with 10 or more employees, compared to just 13 percent for microbusinesses.
