A new way of assessing women-led businesses shows they are making a greater contribution to the U.S. economy than previously reported, a new study has revealed.

The report, drawn from the Census Bureau's 2002 Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons, is the second half of a two-part study prepared for the National Women's Business Council.

Previously published data only included information on businesses owned at least 51 percent by women. The new report includes data on companies where a woman owns a percentage of the business at least equal to any other owner, and where a woman or women manage day-to-day operations.

Using those criteria, more than 1 million women-led businesses generated more than $300 billion in revenue in 2002, or about 3 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. Combined, more than 7.5 million businesses were women-owned or women-led businesses in 2002. The combination employed 9.6 million people and generated nearly $1.2 trillion in revenue--about 12 percent of U.S. GDP.

Other noteworthy statistics:

• Twenty-nine percent of women-led firms had paid employees compared with 14 percent of women-owned firms.
• Only 16 percent of women-owned/women-led (WOWL) businesses had employees, but those firms generated 86 percent of all WOWL revenue.
• Women-led businesses were concentrated in low-revenue industries, with the highest number in retail trade.
• Three percent of women-led firms were in wholesale and another 3 percent were in manufacturing. But these generated high levels of total receipts--16 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

Women-led firms had higher receipts than women-owned companies, but women-owned firms paid employees more, on average.--Eve Gumpel