Small business strength fails to boost start-ups

But despite the employment gains and financial solvency of existing small businesses, there has been a “rather dramatic decline” in new firms in recent years, according to Mark Schweitzer, the Cleveland Fed’s senior vice president of external outreach and regional analytics.

“There’s room to question whether the financial recovery in lending has been enough to support new start-ups,” according to Schweitzer, who said he expects relatively steady growth for small businesses in the near term.

“I think it will generally be an improving picture,” he said. “The better growth environment has been supportive of growth in small businesses as well.”