Name of Report: 1997 Economic Census Minority and Women Owned Businesses - Rhode Island
Organizational affiliation: none
Publisher: U.S. Census Bureau
Contact Information: U.S. Census Bureau; http://www.census.gov/
Date: 1997
Pages: Introduction-12 pages; Data-18 pages
Content Summary
This report is largely a collection of data on minority businesses showing the amount of firms in Rhode Island, those owned by people of color broken down by race and ethnic/national origin, those owned by women and what types of businesses are represented. Ownership is based on the race/ethnicity/gender of person(s) owning majority interest in the business. Also agricultural industries are excluded in this report. The data for the economic census is collected every five years in years ending with 2 and 7.
Major Findings
There are 80,934 firms in Rhode Island with 5.9% of those firms owned by minorities and 24.6% owned by women. Native Americans own the least amount of minority businesses and Latinos own the most. The majority of businesses are in the construction, retain and service industries with the majority of Latino businesses being in the service industries. Asians are highly concentrated in retail trade which includes eateries and food stores. Blacks are concentrated in service industries, particularly business and social services.
Related Issues
Although minorities are approximately 15% of the Rhode Island population, they only account for 6% of the businesses owned. Also because minorities are concentrated in a few similar areas, they are competing mostly with each other. Although the data breaks down the Latino and Asian communities by national origin/ethnicity the same is not down for the Black community. There are also industries which are not classified that account for much of the minority business. There is no further data explaining these industries.
How to access report
http://www.census.gov/epcd/mwb97/ri/RI.html