U.S. businesses are starting smaller and staying smaller than in the past. Raymond Sinclair, Ph.D. -- Coordinator of the NIOSH Small Business Assistance and Outreach Program – wants to know what implications that has for worker safety.
In a recent NIOSH Science blog post, Sinclair notes that a study reported in the March issue of Monthly Labor Review found that the average “birth size” of new businesses declined from 7.3 to 5.3 employees between 2000 and 2007 – a sharp contrast to companies that had been in existence for seven years or more.
The study’s authors suggest that newer businesses are smaller because of an an emphasis on technology over labor -- something Sinclair says has implications for worker health and safety.