2011年-世界发展银行全球_Small_vs_Young_Firms_across_the_World___Contribution_to_Employment_Job_Creation_and_Growth_59页_3mb

Summary of "Small vs. Young Firms across the World: Contribution to Employment, Job Creation, and Growth"

Core Content

This paper explores the role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and young firms in employment generation, job creation, and economic growth across 99 developing countries. It provides a comprehensive cross-country database, improving upon existing data sources by offering more consistent and comparable statistics. The authors aim to understand the relative importance of firm size and age in contributing to employment and productivity growth, and how these relationships vary across different income levels.

Main Findings

• SMEs and Employment: SMEs (defined as firms with 5-250 employees) are the largest contributors to total employment across all countries. In the median country, SMEs account for 66.76% of total permanent, full-time employment. This share is higher in low-income countries than in high-income ones.

• Young Firms and Employment: Young firms (less than 2 years old) contribute a very small fraction of total employment, with an average of 6.75% and median of 4.78%. In contrast, firms older than 10 years contribute significantly more, ranging from 48.12% in low-income countries to 72.76% in high-income countries.

• Job Creation: SMEs are the primary contributors to job creation, accounting for 86.01% of new jobs in the median country. Even in countries with a net job loss, SMEs still create a large share of jobs, around 81.51%. Young firms, on the other hand, contribute only 14% of net jobs in countries with positive job creation and 5.39% in those with net job loss.

• Productivity Growth: Large firms and young firms show higher productivity growth compared to SMEs and mature firms. SMEs are more important for employment and job creation, but their contribution to productivity growth is lower.

• Size and Age Dynamics: The paper finds that small firms and mature firms (those over 10 years old) are the most significant contributors to employment across all income groups. In contrast, the U.S. findings suggest that large mature firms dominate employment, but this is not the case in developing countries.

• Data Limitations: The data is based on formal sector surveys, excluding the informal sector. This may lead to an underestimation of SME importance in countries with large informal sectors. Additionally, the paper does not include micro enterprises (firms with less than 5 employees), and the analysis is limited to surviving firms, which may overestimate growth rates of young firms.

Key Variables and Definitions

• SME Definitions: Six different size thresholds are used: SME100 (up to 100 employees), SME150, SME200, SME250, SME300, and SME500. The authors primarily use SME250 (up to 250 employees) for analysis, as it aligns with international standards.

• Young Firms: Two age thresholds are considered: YOUNG2 (less than 2 years old) and YOUNG5 (less than 5 years old). Age bins are also used for analysis.

• Employment and Job Creation: Employment is measured as permanent, full-time jobs. Job creation is calculated as the change in employment over a two-year period, weighted by sampling weights.

• Sampling Methodology: The data is sourced from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys, which sample formal firms from over 100 countries. The surveys use standardized instruments and stratified sampling based on industry, firm size, and location.

Methodological Contributions

• The paper constructs a more comprehensive and comparable cross-country dataset than previous SME databases.
• It allows for the comparison of SMEs and young firms across different age and size groups.
• It provides insights into how firm size and age relate to employment, productivity, and growth across different income levels.
• The analysis is robust across sub-samples by income group and informal sector size.

Implications for Policy

• SMEs are vital for employment and job creation in developing economies, especially in low-income countries.
• Young firms, although not major contributors to employment, play a more significant role in productivity growth.
• The paper highlights the importance of policy support for SMEs and young firms, emphasizing the need for more detailed data on informal enterprises and micro firms.
• The findings suggest that policy attention should focus on promoting SMEs and their growth, as they are more dynamic in job creation compared to large firms.

Conclusion

The paper underscores the critical role of SMEs and young firms in employment and job creation in developing economies, even though their contribution to productivity growth is less pronounced than that of large firms. The data and analysis provide valuable insights for policymakers aiming to support firm growth and employment in these regions.