What the Stimulus Package Means for Small Business

Steve King

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the stimulus package, was signed into law by President Obama in February. It amounts to $787 billion in government spending, incentives, and tax cuts designed to kick-start the economy and create or save 3 million to 4 million jobs over the next two years.

There has been much debate about the merits of the stimulus package, especially as it relates to small business. But regardless of how you feel about the stimulus package, it is starting to create opportunities for small businesses.

For example, there are more than 2,600 road projects funded by the stimulus package currently underway across the United States. The vast majority of this work is being done by small and midsize construction companies. Additional opportunities are being created in healthcare, education, energy, clean tech, and other areas of the economy.

We recently did an industry-by-industry employment impact analysis of the stimulus package. Based on this analysis, we estimate that the stimulus package will create or save roughly 1.6 million small-business jobs.

Our analysis is included in the free E-book The Stimulus Package: What's in it for Growing Businesses? This E-book was produced by MyVenturepad in cooperation with SCORE and sponsored by SAP. It is designed to help small businesses take advantage of the opportunities created by the stimulus package.

The E-book also contains an analysis of the tax implications of the stimulus package by small-business and tax expert Barbara Weltman. And Entreworks Consulting founder Erik Pages, a specialist on the Small Business Administration, provides an assessment of what the package means to the SBA.

Steve King is a partner at Emergent Research , where he leads a research project to identify, analyze, and forecast the global trends and shifts affecting small business. He blogs at www.smallbizlabs.com.

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