Small businesses in Puerto Rico generated 44% of jobs over past 3 years
Companies that hire 50 or more employees represent 56% of local establishments.
Puerto Rico’s small- and mid-sized businesses (SMEs) — companies with 49 employees or fewer — generated 44% of private sector jobs over the past three years, during which 7,500 new establishments were created, the Puerto Rico Economic Development Bank (BDE, in Spanish) confirmed.
“More than 7,500 SMEs were created in the past three years, with the most notable being in the retail, health, professional services, and restaurant and hospitality sectors,” said BDE President Luis Alemañy.
The official also explained that companies that hire 50 or more employees represent 56% of local establishments, according to the most recent data available for the first quarter of 2024.
“Also, 96% of private establishments in Puerto Rico are SMEs and are concentrated mostly in the retail trade industry, where, in addition, most of the jobs were accounted for,” he said.
SMEs are most concentrated in establishments with fewer than five employees, totaling 30,438 businesses and employing 54,185 workers. This group showed a 6.4% increase in the number of establishments and a 3.2% increase in jobs, the agency stated.
Secondly, there are establishments with five to nine employees, which total 9,773 and provide 64,132 jobs. This group saw a 0.2% increase in establishments and a 0.6% increase in jobs.
In third place are establishments employing between 10 and 19 workers, totaling 6,283 and providing 83,679 jobs, with a 1.5% growth in establishments and a 2.1% increase in jobs.
Finally, establishments with 20 to 49 employees total 4,220 and provide 126,807 jobs, reflecting a 3.5% increase in establishments and a 4.8% increase in jobs.
In the first quarter of 2024, of the total 53,088 private establishments, 30,438 employed fewer than five people; 9,773 had five to nine employees; 6,283 had 10 to 19 employees; 4,220 had 20 to 49 employees; and 2,374 employed 50 or more workers, the latter representing 4% of total establishments.
“In other words, smaller companies, which individually employ fewer than 50 people, total 50,714 establishments, representing 96% of the total number of companies established in Puerto Rico. This proportion changes when we talk about covered private employment, according to the latest information provided by the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW),” said Alemañy.
The average number of private-sector jobs covered in the first quarter of 2024 was 744,825. Of these, 328,803 jobs (44%) were in establishments with fewer than 50 employees, while 416,022 jobs (56%) were in companies with 50 or more employees.
Meanwhile, the Puerto Rico Trade & Export Co., part of the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC, in Spanish), classifies self-employed individuals as microenterprises.
Last year closed with an average of 192,000 self-employed people, 0.5% fewer than in 2022 (193,000, or 2.5% year-on-year growth). In the first seven months of 2024 (January-July), the self-employed population averaged 200,000, or 10,000 more than in the same period of the previous year, according to the Puerto Rico Department of Labor and Human Resources’ Labor Statistics Bureau.
