The number of businesses trading at the start of 2003 rose by a record 200,000 on the previous year to four million, latest figures showed today.
The annual increase is the largest since the Department of Trade and Industry's Small Business Service began collating the data in 1995 and is the first time the four million mark has been beaten.
Small businesses - employing under 49 staff - accounted for 99.2% of all firms with the number of enterprises employing no staff at 2.9 million. Some of today's rise is due to a technical change in the way self-employed jobs are measured.
Enterprise minister Nigel Griffiths said the data showed small and medium-sized enterprises were the "engine room" of the UK economy.
He added: "They account for 99.8% of the business population, employ over 12.6 million people and contribute more than £1 trillion in turnover."
Friday August 27, 2004
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