Yes, I know that small business is important, but this much so?
Small businesses employ more than 10m people, nearly half the private-sector workforce, and contribute almost £1,000bn to the British economy.
The British economy is what, some £1,2 trillion? And we\’re saying that 50% of the private sector workforce alone is providing 83% of that? Don\’t think so, somehow. That\’s the sort of number that should set journalistic alarm bells ringing, surely?
Surely, Tim, you knew that 73.8 % of statistics on the Internet are made up?
According to this official (and ? authoritative) source dated August 2006:
“Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) together accounted for more than half of the employment (58.7 per cent) and turnover (51.1 per cent) in the UK.”
http://www.dtistats.net/smes/200612/SMEstats2005pr.pdf
By definition, SMEs are counted as businesses employing up to 249 people. This source makes no reference to GDP.