WASHINGTON, US: Small businesses would play an important role in the nation`s economic future.

The Office of Advocacy's Small Business Profile for the United States, an independent voice for small business within the federal government, released today details about small businesses in the US.

The details included small business employment, business starts and closings, bank lending in 2008, the demographics of business ownership, and firm and employment change by major industry and firm size, said a press release.

"The United States continues to depend on the health and ingenuity of its small business sector for the nation`s economic growth," said Susan Walthall, Acting Chief Counsel for Advocacy. "In today`s economic climate, it is especially important for policymakers to keep small business concerns in mind as they formulate policy."

In 2008, the United States saw an increase of 0.7 per cent in GDP and a private sector employment decline of 0.7 percent. The U.S. profile also showed that small employers in the United States numbered 6 million in 2006. There were also 20.8 million non-employers, which increased to 21.7 million by 2007.

Small businesses added 2.5 million net new jobs in 2005-2006. Overall, they employed 50.2 per cent of the nation`s nonfarm private workforce in 2006.

Businesses owned by women, and by Asian Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders all increased significantly over the most recent period for which Census data are available.

As additional small business data become available over the coming months, they will be incorporated in a new edition of the state profiles, to be issued in early 2010, said the release.