In Texas, small business is big business
From the San Antonio Tech District startups to the brisket taco joint on Fredericksburg Road, small businesses showcase the diverse economic fabric of San Antonio and Texas.
According to 2022 numbers from the U.S. Small Business Administration, there are 3.1 million small businesses, defined as a business with less than 500 employees, in Texas. About 99.8% of all businesses in the state are classified as small businesses. More than 2.6 million of those businesses are micro businesses — each with less than 10 employees.
Taken together, Texas’ small businesses employ 4.9 million Texans, meaning the smallbusiness labor force accounts for 44.5% of all employees in the state.
About 34,000 small businesses and 145,000 sole proprietorships call Bexar County home, according to the city of San Antonio.
Small-business owners face constant challenges in keeping their businesses thriving in our post-pandemic environment. Chief among these challenges are a tight labor pool, persistent inflation and higher borrowing costs.
Time and again, small-business owners cite the difficulty of finding workers as chief among the challenges they face in regaining their footing postpandemic. The unemployment rate in the San Antonio metropolitan area was 3.8% in January. That’s below the statewide unemployment rate of 4.1%, indicating a tighter local labor market than the state as a whole.
At Texas 2036, a nonpartisan and nonprofit public policy organization, we’ve taken many steps in support of policies that could help address some of the challenges facing the state’s small businesses.
For example, we backed legislation passed last year that would better align postsecondary educational credentials with the skills needed to fill the indemand jobs of the present and the future.
San Antonio is leading the way with many innovative programs to equip students with the specialized training to step into high-demand careers. Well worth highlighting is the work being done at Alamo Colleges to double workforce programs by 2028 and the decision by the University of Texas at San Antonio to launch a new college focused on artificial intelligence and data science, adding to its significant emphasis on cybersecurity studies.
Texas 2036 is also working to ensure the state’s basic infrastructure remains robust and reliable to support small businesses. Here in the Alamo City, CPS Energy and San Antonio Water System have also been proactive in answering this challenge — putting in place meaningful conservation measures during drought conditions or when the power grid is stressed.
In San Antonio, we can do more to support minorityowned small businesses. According to a 2021 article in the San Antonio Business Journal, Hispanics are underrepresented, owning 24% of local businesses while comprising 60% of the local workforce.
Doing more to encourage workforce development while investing more in the infrastructure to support small businesses will supercharge the job-creating dynamos that are small businesses.
We, as San Antonians, can also do our part by buying local and spending our dollars at small, and minority- and women-owned businesses. Anyone for a brisket taco at Garcia’s?
A.J. Rodriguez is a lifelong San Antonian. He serves as the executive vice president of Texas 2036. He was CEO of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber, deputy city manager in San Antonio and a corporate executive at Zachry Group.