Pandemic Darlings The pandemic economy, in original documents
Home Source documents Testimony — Brian Calley, Small Business Association of Michigan (September 18, 2025)

Testimony — Brian Calley, Small Business Association of Michigan (September 18, 2025)

Summary

Testimony dated September 18, 2025 from Brian Calley, President & CEO of the Small Business Association of Michigan, titled Michigan's Small Business Climate. It draws on the 2025 Michigan Entrepreneurship Score Card, a yearly report produced by the SBAM Foundation. The text states that 99.8% of all businesses in Michigan have fewer than 500 employees and that those businesses provide 78.4% of all private sector employment. Women ownership of businesses in Michigan is stated to have increased from 29.6 percent to 35.5 percent over the last 20 years. Under Report Lowlights it states that new business openings have trended downward and closures are trending up since the pandemic.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Cite this document

“Testimony — Brian Calley, Small Business Association of Michigan (September 18, 2025).” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2025-09-18-testimony-brian-calley-ceo-small-business-association-of-mi-5ccaf4570d/, SHA-256 6860b60d0a2020e256d437853420cd9849d1742c3e14a8adc9d816df6b47b98d.

Full text

September 18, 2025




Michigan’s Small Business Climate



Brian Calley
President & CEO | Small Business Association of Michigan
 Michigan’s Entrepreneurship
 Score Card 2025
Much of the data and information
presented today was published
initially in the 2025 Michigan
Entrepreneurship Score Card.

This report is produced yearly by
the SBAM Foundation

Follow the QR Code to view the full
report, or visit:
https://www.sbam.org/michigan-
entrepreneurship-score-card/
      Entrepreneurial Landscape




99.8% of all businesses in Michigan have fewer than 500
                       employees
Entrepreneurial Landscape




                 Businesses with fewer than
                 500 employees provide
                 78.4% of all private sector
                 employment in Michigan.
                 Those with fewer than 100
                 employees account for 51%!
Report Highlights




              In the last 20 years, the
              self-employment and
              Stage 1 businesses (1-9
              employees) have far
              outpaced the percentage
              growth of Stage 2, Stage
              3, and large businesses.
Report Highlights



              Stage 1 small businesses and
              self-employment provide an
              employment base that is
              more stable than larger
              businesses, dipping far more
              mildly during recessions,
              followed by a subdued up-
              turn in the post-recession
              recovery phase.
                          Report Highlights




Michigan has become a top performing state in the Five-Year Establishment Survival Rate.
                    Report Highlights




Sole Prop Story:
• 17.7% of private sector employment
• Income growth has mostly exceeded the U.S. average since 2011
                  Report Highlights




                                      Women ownership of
                                      businesses in Michigan
                                      has increased from 29.6
                                      percent to 35.5 percent
                                      of all businesses over
                                      the last 20 years, and
Share in Total Firms 2002   2022      now slightly exceeds the
                                      US percentage.
Woman-Owned         29.6%   35.5%
Report Lowlights




             Since the pandemic, new
             business openings have
             trended downward, and
             closures are trending up.
Report Lowlights




            The percentage of
            Michigan businesses
            expanding employment
            is now less than those
            contracting.
Report Lowlights



           Michigan experienced a spike in
           new business starts with planned
           wages following the pandemic.

           Since 2023, Michigan Small
           Business formation activity
           levelled off and then turned
           downward.
                  Report Lowlights




                                     Minority Ownership
                                     • Increased in
                                       Michigan over the
                                       last 20 years but …
                                     • Only slightly more
                                       than half of the
Share in Total Firms 2002   2022       national rate.
Minority-Owned      10.5%   18.3%
                     Report Lowlights




Michigan has seen an increase in the number of businesses in all
stages, but our rate of increase badly trails the US over the last 20
                               years.
Recent Trends Move to Align With Firsthand Accounts




     Post-revision figures show softer numbers than initially thought
   “Entrepreneurs today are weary and
frustrated. New and costly regulations,
     year-over-year double digit health
     insurance increases, high interest
rates, rising costs, uncertainty in trade
  policy, and misaligned labor markets
                 are really taking a toll.”

File and source

File
2025-09-18_testimony_brian-calley-ceo-small-business-association-of-michigan_57378.pdf
Size
1,575,527 bytes
SHA-256
6860b60d0a2020e256d437853420cd9849d1742c3e14a8adc9d816df6b47b98d
Our copy
2025-09-18_testimony_brian-calley-ceo-small-business-association-of-michigan_57378.pdf
Original
No public link identified.
Back to top